323843

8 Years’ Worth of Dynamo and Revit Classes from 1

Speaker in 60 Minutes
Marcello Sgambelluri S.E.
Director Of Advanced Technology

John A. Martin Structural Engineers

Learning Objectives
• Learn helpful tips on how to push Revit to its limits
• Learn helpful tips on how to push Dynamo to its limits
• Learn eight years’ worth of Revit classes in just one session
• Learn eight years’ worth of Dynamo classes in just one session

Description
The speaker has taught classes at Autodesk University since 2012 and has presented more than 25
classes at AU. It’s time for him to summarize each class for all attendees who couldn’t attend every one
of them. He will present a summary of each class in a high-speed format that’s guaranteed to be fun,
fast, and entertaining—from modeling a cow in Revit software to modeling complex structure to using
Dynamo. So sit back and enjoy the ride of eight years’ worth of classes. You’ll be energized by his
infectious, passionate style of presenting complex topics and making them easy to understand. No
matter your discipline or how you use Revit, you’ll learn something of value and see the different ways to
use Revit. This class will cover more than 25 classes and it’s going to be fast and fun!
8 Years’ Worth of Dynamo and Revit Classes BY :Marcello Sgambelluri,

About the Speaker

Marcello currently serves as the Building Information Modelling (BIM) director at John A. Martin &
Associates Structural Engineers in Los Angeles, California. Marcello has worked on many BIM projects
over the last 18 years including the Walt Disney Concert Hall in Los Angeles; the Ray and Maria Stata
Centre at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology; and the Tom Bradley International Terminal
Expansion at Los Angeles International Airport. Sgambelluri is internationally recognized as one of the
top BIM leaders and contributors to the education and implementation of BIM technology in the building
industry. He continually speaks at Autodesk University and the Revit Technology Conference, and he
has received a record total of 15 1st place speaker awards between both conferences. Marcello
Sgambelluri received his bachelor’s and master’s degrees in civil engineering, and he is a licensed civil
and structural engineer.
Marcello also has been building media that includes the following:

Simply Complex Blog Site -

http://therevitcomplex.blogspot.com/

Simply Complex YouTube

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC7IkO1Bc4PhFKAHEArmQ0jw/videos

Simply Complex Podcast -

http://simplycomplex.sharedcoordinates.com/

AEC Complex Comic -

https://www.aeccomplexcomic.com/

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8 Years’ Worth of Dynamo and Revit Classes BY :Marcello Sgambelluri,

Contents
Customizing the Graphical Column Schedule: Create Smart Tags (GCS) 2012 ................................... 4
Ride the Rails: New Ways to build Rotation Parameters: Mass Rig on Lift 2012................................... 5
Power Points & Power Plays Using Adaptive Component points 2012 ................................................. 6
Revit Family Modeling Secrets Revealed! 2012 .................................................................................... 7
Exciting New Methods to Model Extremely Complex Geometry 2012 ................................................... 8
Learn to Scale and Morph Families in Autodesk Revit 2013 ................................................................. 9
Make Hardscape Follow Site Topography 2013.................................................................................. 10
How to Prepare and Deliver an Engaging Presentation 2013 ............................................................. 11
Practical Dynamo 2014....................................................................................................................... 12
Dynamo for Dummies 2014 ................................................................................................................ 13
Dynamo for Contractors Part 1 2015 .................................................................................................. 14
Dynamo for Contractors Part 2 2015 .................................................................................................. 15
Families in Motion 2015 ...................................................................................................................... 16
More Practical Dynamo 2015.............................................................................................................. 17
Cutting Edge Revit Structure Modeling Techniques 2016 ................................................................... 18
More Families in Motion 2016 ............................................................................................................. 19
High Tech Structural Engineering 2016 .............................................................................................. 20
Dynamo for Structure 2017 ................................................................................................................. 21
Revit to Max Interactive 2017 ............................................................................................................. 22
Who Should Model the Structural Analysis Model? 2017 .................................................................... 23
More Dynamo for Structure 2018 ........................................................................................................ 24
Zero Touch for Dynamo PT 2018 ....................................................................................................... 25
Zero Touch for Dynamo COW 2019 ................................................................................................... 26
ETABS and SAP API GET AREAS 2018 ............................................................................................ 27
ETABS and SAP API GET ANAYSIS 2018......................................................................................... 28
Capitalizing on Advanced Tech 2018.................................................................................................. 29
Connecting Dynamo with RAM via API 2018 ...................................................................................... 30
Game Engines for Engineers 2018 ..................................................................................................... 31

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8 Years’ Worth of Dynamo and Revit Classes BY :Marcello Sgambelluri,

Customizing the Graphical Column Schedule: Create Smart Tags (GCS) 2012

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Ride the Rails: New Ways to build Rotation Parameters: Mass Rig on Lift 2012

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Power Points & Power Plays Using Adaptive Component points 2012

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Revit Family Modeling Secrets Revealed! 2012

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Exciting New Methods to Model Extremely Complex Geometry 2012

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Learn to Scale and Morph Families in Autodesk Revit 2013

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Make Hardscape Follow Site Topography 2013

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How to Prepare and Deliver an Engaging Presentation 2013

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Practical Dynamo 2014

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Dynamo for Dummies 2014

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Dynamo for Contractors Part 1 2015

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Dynamo for Contractors Part 2 2015

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Families in Motion 2015

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More Practical Dynamo 2015

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Cutting Edge Revit Structure Modeling Techniques 2016

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More Families in Motion 2016

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High Tech Structural Engineering 2016

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Dynamo for Structure 2017

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Revit to Max Interactive 2017

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Who Should Model the Structural Analysis Model? 2017

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More Dynamo for Structure 2018

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Zero Touch for Dynamo PT 2018

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Zero Touch for Dynamo COW 2019

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ETABS and SAP API GET AREAS 2018

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ETABS and SAP API GET ANAYSIS 2018

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Capitalizing on Advanced Tech 2018

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Connecting Dynamo with RAM via API 2018

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Game Engines for Engineers-Part 1 2018

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Game Engines for Engineers-See Something Say Something Part 2 2018

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323888
An Intro to Getting Dynamo to talk with RAM Structure
Using the API
Marcello Sgambelluri S.E.
Director Of Advanced Technology

John A. Martin Structural Engineers

Learning Objectives
• Learn how to understand the RAM API
• Learn basic C# to create custom Dynamo nodes
• Learn how to create custom Dynamo nodes that tap the RAM SS database
• Learn how to move data from RAM to other databases

Description
RAM structural analysis 3D models are a part of most structural engineering offices’ workflows. The
models are typically created by structural engineers and used by structural engineers to perform
structural engineering analysis on projects. There is a wealth of rich building information in the 3D
analysis models that could be used for design, quality control, and many other tasks. The reality is that
most data extracted from these structural analysis models is extracted manually. This process is tedious,
time consuming, and costly. What if you could show structural engineers how to extract all that rich data
using automation techniques such as Dynamo and the RAM API? Would you be their hero? This class
will teach you how! You do NOT need to be a structural engineer, nor do you need to know RAM
Structural Systems to take this class. This class will NOT teach you how to run any structural analysis or
link Revit software to RAM.
Getting Dynamo to talk to RAM SS Using the API BY :Marcello Sgambelluri,

INTRODUCTION
This Handout uses the following versions
RAM 15*
ETABS 17
Dynamo 1.3.3. OR Dynamo 2.X
Revit 2019 OR Revit 2020
Dynamo Simplex Package 2019.X

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What is RAM?
RAM Structural System is an integrated three-
dimensional static and dynamic structural
analysis and design program owned by
Bentley. Due to its simple rules and great clear
calculations that building departments enjoy,
RAM is used by many structural engineers. It
is made up of many modules including
modeler, beam design, column design etc.
Also, the graphics and interface that are used
have not really change for the last 20 years so RAM could look a bit outdated.
The modelling interface is not very user friendly either. With all of RAM’s “archaic” nature it
remains a fan favourite amount structural engineers.
Structural engineers using RAM always need help “automating” tasks when using RAM and one
way to do that is to use the RAM API. Even better, instead of making an add-in to RAM using
the API that could be customized by engineers give them the power to make their own
programs by using Dynamo. Why Dynamo? Dynamo is easy to learn and would allow engineers
to interact with the RAM API without having to know how to code in C# or other text
programming language. So….. lets look at Zero Touch and the RAM API.

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Understanding ZERO TOUCH

Zero Tough is just a fancy word for saying “create
a custom Dynamo Node using C#”
More information could be found here
https://github.com/DynamoDS/Dynamo/wiki/Zero-
Touch-Plugin-Development
The next few examples will get you familiar with
Zero Touch.

Understanding the RAM API

Understanding the RAM API is important to get
Dynamo to talk with RAM. In this class we will
create Dynamo nodes using Zero Touch and thus
we need to use C#. Note that you could use
Python to create custom Dynamo nodes that talk
with the RAM API.

The RAM API is not easy to understand since it’s only documentation was created with VB and
C++ examples. Also the documentation is not complete and is inconsistent in many locations.
The purpose of this class is to get you STARTED with the RAM API and connecting it to
Dynamo. There is not way this class could cover ever possible method that is exposed in the
RAM API. So we will
start with some simple
concepts.

First you will need to

get the RAM API
documentation. It is
provided in your RAM
install directory. Its
called “RAM
DataAccess
Developers Guide.pdf”
and it provided in the
dataset.

It is possible to create
some complex shapes
using the RAM API
such as a RAM in
RAMSS.

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BLD226602
Capitalizing on Advanced Technology in Your
Company Using the Right Personal
Marcello Sgambelluri
Director of Advanced Technology

John A. Martin Structural Engineers

Los Angeles, CA

Learning Objectives
 Learn how to capitalize on advanced tech in your AEC firm
 Learn how to structure your firm’s personnel and teams to use advanced tech
 Learn how much time and effort it takes to use advanced tech
 Learn if using advanced tech is right for your firm

Description
Have you ever wanted to explore using more-advanced technology in your firm? This class will
show how you can rise above all the day-to-day technology that’s used within your firm and
focus and use advanced technology in the industry. Advanced technology is anything that is not
used in your firm's office on a daily basis, but that could be hugely beneficial to your firm for
specific tasks such as job proposals, design competitions, or even small-production support.
This is only possible by getting the right personal teams at your office and the partners involved
early. This requires you to rethink how your office is structured and how your firm will need to
redefine another level of management at the advanced technology level. So, what are you
waiting for? If you ever wanted to take advantage of all the exciting advanced technology out
there but didn't know where to start, then keep an open mind and attend this class. This class
will focus on advanced tech used in and around 3D in architecture, engineering, and
construction.
Contents
Capitalizing on Advanced Tech.....................................................................................................4
What is it? ..................................................................................................................................4
Questions to Consider............................................................................................................5
The common misconception ..................................................................................................6
Why I it Needed? It is Right for You?.........................................................................................7
Usages of Advanced Technology ..............................................................................................7
Example 01 Supporting Pursuit Projects Walking .....................................................................8
Example 02 Supporting Production Queen Mary ....................................................................10
The New Position ........................................................................................................................11
New Position ............................................................................................................................11
Why not the BIM Manager, BIM Director, or Director of Design Technology ..........................12
Capitalizing on Advanced Tech
What is it?
Capitalize is defined as “taking the chance to gain advantage from”.
That’s exactly what this class is about, to learn what advanced technology is and how it can
benefit you and your office. More importantly this class will cover how to set up your office and
personal and the infrastructure such that advanced technology can be used and be successful.

So what is advanced technology?

These include any technology that is used within your office and outside your office that is not
used daily. It’s very different from what we could call standard technology.
Standard technology is the technology that has already been implemented in your office and
used on the bases such as using an excel spreadsheet in your office to create structural
calculations because everyone in the office has access to excel and some knowledge of it.

Another example is the use of Revit. If your firm has been using Revit to design and document
the projects for the last 10 more years that would be considered standard technology. Think of
advanced technology as a technology that is almost esoteric in nature. It is something that is
completely different from your day to day technology and that may not be 100% clear but may
show a lot of promise.

Questions to Consider
Another way to understand what advanced technology is used to ask yourself the following
questions:
• Used in your office on a regular basis?
• Fully implemented in your office?
• Benefits your firm?
• Benefits your clients?
• Anyone know about it?
The common misconception
Advanced technology is relative. Say for example in your office you have implemented and
used the virtual reality station for several years and with great success. But this point in time it
may seem that the virtual reality station is advanced technology but for the sake of this class it is
not. This would now be considered standard technology.
Also, Advanced technology does not mean that it is difficult to learn. In fact, the best Advanced
technology could be explained and learned by fast and simple methods.
Therefore, in this specific example of the virtual reality station, it is advanced technology for one
company but not advanced technology for another. Also, this means that what may be
advanced technology today may become standard technology in your office in the future. This
also means that if you want to capitalize on advanced technology you have to always be looking
forward and keeping a pulse on the industry on what’s new and what can benefit her office and
never rest on your company’s laurels. Advanced technology is also a mindset or a way of
thinking outside the box.
Why I it Needed? It is Right for You?
Why do you need advanced technology? Or why would you ever want to explore and capitalize
on advanced technology? The reason is it benefits your office. It will be up to review your
office’s needs and determine if its right for your firm.

Usages of Advanced Technology

There are many types of usages for advanced technology. It could be used in a pursuit project
or in marketing to help sell an idea or could give that little extra edge on that proposal that’s
going out.

Research and development are big parts of advanced technology because of its technology that
you want to use but it’s not in your office. It will require research to determine what it is how to
use it how be useful in your office. Any initial implementation efforts are also a big part of the
advanced technology. Technologies that are researched need to be implemented in your office.
Advanced technology could be used in production as well for those cases where the current
technology in the office is not enough and there needs to be a new advanced technology to
support that effort.
Also, advanced technology could be used for all the external efforts for helping clients whether
its related to a current project or not.
Example 01 Supporting Pursuit Projects Walking
Let’s look at a simple example of Advanced technology.

My company was asked to prepare a proposal on the design of a new building that was
attached to an existing building. What was important was that the new building was to be
constructed around an existing building, yet traffic flow could not be interrupted during
construction. Our company chose to create an animation that shows the actual people walking
and how the buildings can be constructed. And of all the polls that were sent in our company
was the only one that spelled it out through an animation and easy way to digest to the owner
on exactly what the design was and how to accomplish the requirements of the project.
Because of this simple animation that utilized some of the newer technology within 3D studio
Max our company was awarded the job.
This is a great example of advanced technology because our office has done animations is in
the past although never utilize some of the newer technology within the software to show crowd
control or walking nor is it typical of a structural proposal and this benefited our office greatly.
Follow the steps in the following image.
Example 02 Supporting Production Queen Mary
Supporting production as mentioned is a big part of advanced technology in the office.
If there is a specific workflow or task that is not part of the day to day technology that is used
within the office, then advanced technology could help. For example, if a complex shape needs
to be modeled in Revit and the users of Revit don’t have time to research how to do it or lack
the skills to do it then advanced technology could model those complex surfaces as shown in
the next example.
In this example the production team needed exterior and interior plans in Revit for
documentation. Also, the engineering design team needed a model of the exterior and interior
structure of the ship that would be compatible with a structural analysis software. The following
image shows the final products in both SAP (structural analysis) and Revit. Both the Revit
massing tools were used to model the exterior of the hull from the original drawings. Dynamo
was used to place the interior structure of the ship.
The New Position
If you are convinced that you need to capitalize on advanced technology in your firm the next
step is to understand how your firm’s personal are structured and then determine if a new
position is required.

New Position

Below is a typical personal hierarchy for the BIM technical services that are offered in the office.

Some offices include the support of design services and therefore have a “Design Director”

This works just great for supporting technical production services in the office that would include
both in and design.
Why not the BIM Manager, BIM Director, or Director of Design Technology
If you’re convinced that you need to use advanced technology in your office then does it make
sense to create a new position. Where should this position come from? Should the BIM director
take over these responsibilities? What about the director of design technology?

Below are typical tasks for a BIM director

 Collaborates closely with BIM/CAD production manager

Help resolve any issues with production manager that result from stoppages of
production
Help resolve any issues that result from conflicts that may occur with other members of
the design team including Architects and Contractors
Help setup and create discussion topics for monthly BIM/CAD meetings
 Collaborates closely with BIM/CAD assistant production manager
Answer any technical questions that the assistant production manager has about
REVIT/BIM.
Software support questions
 Generates new BIM content for office including custom families for Revit
 Studies, tests, latest software releases of Revit and other BIM related software
Recommends to BIM/CAD managers when the appropriate time for office to move to
later Revit version
Assists with current projects that need to be upgraded from earlier versions
 Gathers information on BIM activities from other companies in the industry
Including other competing structural engineering offices
Including other architects, contractors, etc.
The typical BIM Director or Director of Design Technology is heavily focused on supporting
production in the office. Even if some efforts are focused on Research and marketing a large
focus is on production.
What if there was a new position? What if there was a Director of Advanced technology that
would not be responsible for supporting production software? What if their efforts would be
focused on the following only (shown below)? Would it also make sense to not have this
Director of advanced technology “over the BIM director? Instead it is a lateral position where
they work with the BIM director on anything unrelated to production support?

 Gathers information on BIM activities from other companies in the industry

 Promotes firm’s current practices of BIM to outside of office
 Meets regularly with marketing department
 Provides guidance with Contact Language Involving BIM to be used on General
Note, Specs, and Contracts.
 Provides periodic presentations to inform firm of new technologies activities in
office
 Help clients with technical needs outside of firm’s specialties

Advanced technology could benefit a firm greatly so it makes sense to have right personal to
manage and take over that effort. Advanced technology is not only about technology its about
the mindset of how to help the firm and the clients. Good Luck and always look forward!
BILT North America 2018

Union Station Hotel, St Louis

August 9-11, 2018

3.3
Become an Office Hero:
Learn how to Extract Data from ETABS and SAP
Class Description
ETABS and SAP structural analysis 3D models are a part of most structural engineering
office's workflows. The models are typically created by structural engineers and used by
structural engineers to perform structural engineering analysis on the project. There is a
wealth of rich building information in the 3D analysis models that could be used for
design, quality control and many other tasks. The reality is most of the "data" that is
extracted from these structural analysis models is done using a "manual" process. For
example, to verify geometric relationships between beams and columns or columns
and walls the user needs to manually open each element in ETABS or SAP and verify
that information manually. This process is tedious and time consuming that takes up the
engineer’s time and the companies budget. What if you could show the structural
engineers how to extract all that rich data using automation techniques such as
Dynamo and the ETABS and SAP API? Would you be their hero? This class will teach you
how! Revit has gone through a similar evolution where Revit users now are able to
interact with the Revit model using Dynamo and the Revit API to automate tasks. It’s
time to use that same technology on the structural analysis models and be the hero in
your office. Disclaimers: You do NOT need to be a structural engineer nor need to know
ETABS or SAP to take this class. This class will NOT teach you how to run any structural
analysis. This class will NOT discuss any links between Revit and ETABS because this class
WILL focus on how to "extract" EXISTING data from EXISTING ETABS and SAP models.
3.3 – Office Hero: Extract DATA from ETABS and SAP
Marcello Sgambelluri, JAMA

Introduction
What is ETABS?
ETABS which stands for “Extended 3D Analysis of Building Systems” is basically a 3D
structural Finite Element analysis program. It is very popular and is focused on the
analysis and design of buildings. This also means that ETABS has its own 3D building
component modelling environment like Revit. A Sample ETABS model is shown below.

What is SAP 2000?

SAP 2000 is basically a 3D structural Finite Element analysis program that focuses
on more general structural shapes not buildings. This also means that SAP has its own 3D
building component modelling environment similar to Rhino. A sample SAP model of
the Queen Mary Ship is shown below.

Both SAP and ETABS are part of the CSI family of software products and run on
very similar software engines. Using the API to extract data and analysis results like how
Dynamo works with Revit is very advantageous.

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3.3 – Office Hero: Extract DATA from ETABS and SAP
Marcello Sgambelluri, JAMA

THE ETABS and SAP API AND ITS PROPERTIES

Getting Started
 All the references for this class will be made relative to accessing an ETABS project that is currently open.
With that said always open ETABS and have it running in the background for the API to get access to
ETABS.
 Add the following text to your code so that your API methods will be able to access the ETABS model

 Add the correct ETABS reference in your Visual Studio program and it could be found in the ETABS install
directory.

If you did not get any of this, then down worry. The sample Code provided in the class
dataset will have all this information.

Next you will need to have access to the “CSi API ETABS 2016.chm” ETABS API Guide.
It could also be found in the ETABS install directory. This will be your guide on all API
methods for ETABS. A sample is shown below.

The SAP API is fundamentally the same as the ETABS API so the principles of the ETABS
APIT could be applied to the SAP API and will work in most cases. This class and this
handout will focus mostly on the ETABS API. However, the dataset also includes
DYNAMO FOR SAP and that includes over 900 nodes!!!!!

NOTES:
THIS DATASET AND HANDOUT HAVE ONLY BEEN TESTED WITH THE FOLLOWING VERSIONS
DYNAMO 1.3.3
SAP 19
ETABS 2016

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ADDITIONAL EXAMPLES

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3.3 – Office Hero: Extract DATA from ETABS and SAP
Marcello Sgambelluri, JAMA

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3.3 – Office Hero: Extract DATA from ETABS and SAP
Marcello Sgambelluri, JAMA

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3.3 – Office Hero: Extract DATA from ETABS and SAP
Marcello Sgambelluri, JAMA

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3.3 – Office Hero: Extract DATA from ETABS and SAP
Marcello Sgambelluri, JAMA

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3.3 – Office Hero: Extract DATA from ETABS and SAP
Marcello Sgambelluri, JAMA

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AS223963-L
Getting Started with Customizing
Dynamo for the Non-Programmers Using C#
Marcello Sgambelluri SE
Director of Advanced Technology
John A. Martin Structural Engineers

Learning Objectives
 Learn how to create custom nodes using C# and Zero Touch
 Learn to use custom nodes to enhance your production on daily tasks
 Learn to have fun with Dynamo
 Learn how to use custom nodes from the package manager

Description
Are you using Dynamo? Need more from what is available with out-of-the-box nodes? Have you
ever wanted to make a custom node in Dynamo but didn’t have any programming skills to get
started? If so, this class is for you! This lecture will explain how to use and create your own
custom nodes using Zero Touch and C# programming language. This lecture will also give
attendees very gradual doses of Dynamo and C# programming, so they leave with the skills to
apply Dynamo at the workplace on practical projects. No C# programming experience is
required; this class is meant for the nonprogrammer. Revit software experience is required.

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Steps

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Main Examples
Final Nodes in Simplex Dynamo Package

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CAS124039
Spice Up Your Revit Live Projects with Autodesk's
Stingray Game Engine
Marcello Sgambelluri
John A. Martin Structural Engineers

Learning Objectives
• Learn how to send a Revit Project to Revit Live and navigate in the Revit Live
Program
• Learn how to send a Revit Live project into Stingray
• Learn how to create assets and enhance the Revit project in Stingray
• Learn how to send the enhanced Revit project from Stingray to Revit Live

Description
Most real-time rendering programs that let you bring in your Revit projects show amazing
graphics—however, they are limited to one "moment" in time and therefore capture only a near-
static project with very little physics or interaction—until now. With Autodesk Live (Revit
software’s real-time rendering viewer) and a little spice from the Stingray game engine, your
projects will become living, breathing buildings as they were meant to be. And it’s possible to
easily add "the extra spice," such as moving elevators, people, and medical equipment, and
supporting vehicle construction equipment. In this class, attendees will learn to use the real-time
rendering of Autodesk Live, and learn how to bring Revit models into it. Also, attendees will
learn how to bring Autodesk Live models into Stingray to add that extra spice to projects by
using real-time rendering and real-time physics.
Speaker
Marcello Sgambelluri currently serves as the BIM Director at John A. Martin & Associates
Structural Engineers in Los Angeles. Marcello has worked on many BIM projects over the
last 18 years as a project manager, design engineer, and BIM Director. Some of the BIM
projects Marcello has worked on includes the Walt Disney Concert Hall in Los Angeles -
CA, the Ray and Maria Stata Technology Center at MIT, Tom Bradley International
Terminal Expansion at LAX. Marcello is internationally recognized at one of the top BIM
leaders and contributors to the education and implementation of BIM technology in the
building industry. Marcello continually speaks at Autodesk University and the Revit
Technology Conference (BILT) where he has received the 1st place speaker award for a
record 12 times between 2012 thru 2016 between both conferences. Marcello received his
Bachelors and Master’s degrees in Civil Engineering and he is also a licensed Civil and
Structural Engineer.
More Dynamo for Structure
Marcello Sgambelluri SE
Director of Advanced Technology
John A. Martin Structural Engineers

Learning Objectives
 Learn why and when to use Dynamo in your structural office
 Learn how to work with structural parameters in Revit using Dynamo
 Learn how to use Dynamo to be more efficient at modeling structure in Revit and in
other structural analysis software
 Learn how to build 3D structural beams, including roof framing, using Dynamo in
Revit

Description
Very few classes focus on how Dynamo software could be used in the structural design office
from a practical level—until now. This class will build on the previous year’s top-rated class
entitled “Dynamo for Structure,” and will give more hands-on experience to the attendees and
teach them how to use more Dynamo examples to help model structural elements in Revit
software. If you model any type of Revit structural elements, then this class is for you. This class
will be exciting, and we will make modeling structure in Revit fun again! No Dynamo experience
is needed, and you do not have to have taken the previous year's course. Only Revit guru
status is required.

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Introduction
What is Dynamo?

This is a very difficult question to answer simply because Dynamo does SO

much. Below is my answer to this question and I hope it clarifies it for some of
you.
Dynamo is a free program from Autodesk that uses visual programming (or boxes and wires).
Dynamo primarily does two tasks:

1. Creates its own geometry with parametric r e l a t i o n s h i p s .

2. Reads and writes to and from external d a t a b a s e s .

Since Dynamo creates its own geometry and reads and writes to external
databases it is a perfect fit to interact with Revit because....isn’t Revit simply a
database with parametric geometry?

Dynamo reads and writes back data to and from the Revit database via the
Revit API. The data could be just about anything, parameter values, family
geometry, and family placement.

Why Dynamo?
Why not use Dynamo? You don’t need to use Dynamo all the time but consider the following
image and let that guide your decision on when to use dynamo and when not to.

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 MAIN

Lab Exercises
Software version:
Use Dynamo 1.3.3 except Canopy Beam Framing Ex use v 2.0.1
Simplex Package
Spring Package
Revit 2018
ETABS 2018

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AS125572-R
Share Your Wits Not Just Your Models to the Entire
Project Team
Marcello Sgambelluri
John A. Martin Structural Engineers

Learning Objectives
• Learn how you could offer your knowledge to the project team beyond your call of
duty
• Learn how to ask for help and tap the knowledge of others in the project team to
help from outside your office
• Learn how to best train and teach yourself topics that you may not use in your
office, but which would greatly benefit the project as a whole
• Learn how to be an AEC superhero and help your fellow project team member

Description
Most building projects require that team members share 3D models and drawings; but there’s
something even more important to share: knowledge. Projects would reap great benefit if all the
project team members were able to contribute their knowledge or wits. Why isn’t this done?
What if you could encourage everyone on the project team—including the architect, engineers,
contractors, and owners—to help solve problems together? What if you as an architect knew
that the structural engineer could help teach you how to do something that would help you on
the project? Would you ask? What if he or she offered that information freely? Would you accept
it? Would you offer your knowledge of a subject to another firm working on the same project if
you know it would help the project, but it was not part of your scope of work? These are the
types of topics and questions that we’ll discuss in this roundtable.
Introduction

The industry has covered in great detail how to share 2D drawings and 3D models, which is a
great thing. But what about sharing knowledge?

I worked on a project that required 3D soil modeling, not expected to be completed by our firm
but instead assigned to the architect. Prior to this, I taught myself how to model soil efficiently,
so I decided to share what I knew with the architect.

It turned out that when I shared the information I had, they finished in HALF the time than
originally planned. This got me thinking: Why don’t we share knowledge or wits with project
teams more readily?

It’s not unusual to share information freely. In fact, major disruptions to business, technology,
and industry the world over have resulted from the knowledge-sharing economy. It results in a
faster, pervasive deployment of elegant collaboration solutions across large organizations.

What about you? Do you think we could all benefit from sharing information among ourselves?
Could we enrich the scope and output of the project if we did? Do you offer and accept
knowledge freely within your company and with other team members outside your company? If
so, what are some lessons you’ve learned? Should you give out knowledge or information for
free?
Key questions to ask

Why don’t we share knowledge or wits with project teams more readily?

What prevents us from asking for help?

Will I lose out on opportunities for learning or advancement if I give away my work?

If I ask for help from someone outside my company, am I admitting I don’t know how to do my
job?

What if I need help from an external consultant who knows more about a subject that isn’t even
their company’s expertise?

Projects would reap great benefit if all the project team members were able to contribute their
knowledge or wits. Why isn’t this done?

What if you could encourage everyone on the project team—including the architect, engineers,
contractors, and owners—to help solve problems together? Would you ask? What if he or she
offered that information freely?

Would you offer your knowledge of a subject to another firm working on the same project if you
know it would help the project, but it was not part of your scope of work?
AS125241-L
Dynamo for Structure
Marcello Sgambelluri
John A. Martin Structural Engineers

Learning Objectives
• Learn how to build structural beams, including roof framing, using Dynamo in Revit
• Learn how to get and set structural parameters in Revit using Dynamo
• Learn how to speed up the structural modeling process in Revit by using Dynamo
• Learn how to create complex structural shapes in Revit using Dynamo

Description
Very few classes focus on how Dynamo software could be used in the structural design office
from a practical level—until now. This class will teach attendees how to use Dynamo to help
model structural elements in Revit software, how to quality-control Revit model and analytical
models, and even show how Dynamo could be used to help annotate structural drawings. If you
model any type of Revit structural elements, then this class is for you. We will make modeling
structure in Revit fun again!

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Introduction
What is Dynamo?

This is a very difficult question to answer simply because Dynamo does SO

much. Below is my answer to this question and I hope it clarifies it for some of
you.
Dynamo is a free program from Autodesk that uses visual programming (or boxes and wires).
Dynamo primarily does two tasks:

1. Creates its own geometry with parametric r e l a t i o n s h i p s .

2. Reads and writes to and from external d a t a b a s e s .

Since Dynamo creates its own geometry and reads and writes to external
databases it is a perfect fit to interact with Revit because....isn’t Revit simply a
database with parametric geometry?

Dynamo reads and writes back data to and from the Revit database via the
Revit API. The data could be just about anything, parameter values, family
geometry, and family placement.

3|Page
Why Dynamo?
Why not use Dynamo? You don’t need to use Dynamo all the time but consider the following
image and let that guide your decision on when to use dynamo and when not to.

Every Revit User Gets to Touch the API

Any Revit user could learn
Dynamo (since it uses visual
programming it is very simple to
learn) they could access the Revit
API and perform simple tasks that
only could have previously been
performed with writing an add-on
or writing a macro with .net
language for Revit.

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How this Handout is organized
Each example is set up in a “picture” format meaning all you need to know on how to perform an
example is completely contained within the image and not in the supporting text.

I felt that making this handout in the “picture book” format you are could easily understand what
to do and not have to read many lines of text to get the “step by step” method on how to perform
the examples. I call this the “DynamoCheatSheet”
See the image below to understand how the DynamoCheatSheet is structured. I hope you like
this new picture method format!

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 Lab Exercises
Download the dataset and
handout here
http://a360.co/2x3FC6g

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ES17317

High-Tech Structural Engineering:

Using New Technologies to Enhance Your Workflows
Marcello Sgambelluri
John A. Martin Structural Engineers

Learning Objectives
• See some of the latest technology trends in the structural engineering field
• Understand real-time visualization using game engine technology
• Understand more about Dynamo and advanced Revit structural modeling to help
you succeed
• Learn how to link structure analysis with Revit models

Description
There are so many new technologies out there in the architecture, engineering, and construction
(AEC) industry. Which ones should your structural firm know? Which ones should you adopt into
your office workflow? Which ones should you share with your clients? Join us as we go through a
sample structural workflow using the latest technologies to solve issues along the way. We will take
you from conceptual design, through documentation, through collaboration, and finally through
CA—while taking advantage of Dynamo software, adaptive components, and advanced Revit
software structural modeling and analysis. We will also show you how to use some of the latest
game engine technology for presentations, quality control, and immersive design collaboration. Hold
on tight—this is going to be a fast ride through the workflow of the structural engineer of the future.
This session features Revit Structure. AIA Approved
Table of Contents
ES17317 1

High-Tech Structural Engineering: 1

Using New Technologies to Enhance Your Workflows 1

EXERSIZES 4

EXERSIZE Using Real-Time Rendering Tools 5

EXERSIZE Using 3DS Max Sequence Animation 8

EXERSIZE Using Virtual Reality 9

EXERSIZE Get Geometry into GOOGLE EARTH 11

EXERSIZE How to Get Revit To Tekla- Use FLUX! 12

EXERSIZE Using QR Codes 13

EXCERSIZE C4R 14

EXERSIZE Using Yourself 15

EXERSIZE Using the Analytical Model 16

EXERSIZE Using Yourself 22

EXERSIZE Using a Mass Element 23

EXERSIZE Use an Adaptive Component 26

EXERSIZE Use a Repeater 28

EXERSIZE Using the Flat Framing 30

EXERSIZE Use Add-ins to Dynamo 32

EXERSIZE Simple Beam Orientation Using AC 34

EXERSIZE Align with Offset for beams w/Dynamo 35

EXERSIZE Canopy Framing Edge Beam 36

EXERSIZE Canopy Framing Single Beam 38

EXERSIZE Canopy Framing Multiple Beams 43

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 EXERSIZES

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EXERSIZE Using Real-Time Rendering Tools

Introduction
There is a wealth of tools out there the use real-time rendering that link up with
Revit. Some of them include, Enscape, Revitzo, and Fuzor. Others include real game
engines that are used to create games such as Unreal and Crytek. In this class we
will only show the “visualization” part of these tools and therefore Enscape will be
used. Enscape is a relatively cheap product that is an add-in to Revit. For more
information, see this link http://enscape3d.com/.

Now how do I use it in Structural Engineering?

Forget presentations and “wowing” everyone in the office. These tools are really
good at helping you QA and QC your structural model. Simple create your Revit
model then use Enscape to move around and look. It’s easy. Then if you want to
share that information just export your view or elements to a .exe file (zip it because
most emails freak out with exe attachments) and done. The person receiving your
.exe file could look
at your Enscape
model and not
even have to own
Enscape. How cool
is that!
To make an
Enscape model just
open a 3D view
and click the
Enscape Start
button as shown in
the image below.

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The final model in Enscape looks like the image below. If you want to spice up your
experience simply walk around on the structure that you modelled and if you fall…
then you have modelled something wrong. It’s fun and enlightening at the same
time!

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Do you want to isolate any elements? Simply isolate them in Revit then Enscape will
update and shown them isolated!

Then if you want to share that information just export your view or elements to a
.exe file (zip it because most emails freak out with exe attachments) and done. The
person receiving your .exe file could look at your Enscape model and not even
have to own Enscape. How cool is that! One more thing, since you are using a real-
time render engine then simply press the “print screen” button and you have an
instant RENDER!

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EXERSIZE Using 3DS Max Sequence Animation
Introduction
There are many times when you will need to tell the story of how the structural
systems need to go together and there is a very good tool to tell your story. That
tool is 3DSMAX. There are add-ins and scripts that allow you to easily create
sequence animations as shown in the image below.
Setup your time steps in 3DSMAX, if you want low-resolution animations don’t wait
for all the frames to render just simply play the preview animations and record your
screen! I do this and it saves me hours of render time!

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EXERSIZE Using Virtual Reality
Introduction
Virtual Reality (VR) is a new technology and it could be used in structural
engineering modelling. VR drops you into the model and represents scale like no
other experience. I just VR all the time. There are many options for VR. The simplest
and cheapest is getting “Google Cardboard” and porting your model to smart
phone. I use a VR headset that is plastic and only slightly better than Google
Cardboard and cost about $19 US as shown in the image below.

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It allows me to view the model in 3D. To make a VR experience simply model your
building in Revit and export it using “Kubity” add the Kubity app to your phone,
then scan the QR code on your exported Revit model as shown in the image
below.

Set the location of your eye on the Kubity app then you have a VR experience in
no time! Of course, this is the cheapest way to go. If you want, you could always
purchase a product like Rift at about $800 US and you will not be required to “port”
your model to your smart phone.

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EXERSIZE Get Geometry into GOOGLE EARTH
Have you ever wanted to show your designs in Google Earth?
Its easy, just use Sketchup
Follow the steps in the image below and you will be showing off to your friends in no
time.

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EXERSIZE How to Get Revit To Tekla- Use FLUX!
See image below and follow the flowchart to get Revit to Tekla

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EXERSIZE Using QR Codes

The use of QR codes has been around for many years now but its use in the AEC
industry is just beginning. The following are some ideas on how to use QR codes.

Digital Download of Drawings

3d Model viewing_3D pdf_

3d VR model Viewing

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EXCERSIZE C4R

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EXERSIZE Using Yourself
The biggest, most underrated, and overlooked technology out in the AECO industry
today is YOU! Don’t forget to use yourself to make your structural workflow great.
Honestly, there are just some tasks that you need to perform in the office that even
the latest and greatest technologies could not do. For example, if you ever see
something in a model that just does not look “right” or you ever have a feeling that
something is making you uneasy about a model you are looking at whether it is
your model or someone else’s then say something. Take for example the image
below.

You, as the structure modeller, look at this linked architectural model and you
notice a toilet in front of vision glass with a structural column running through. This
could give you that feeling that this may just not look right. Chances are it is wrong
and you need to bring it to the attention of the architect but please make sure to
tell them nicely!

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EXERSIZE Using the Analytical Model
Find the problem

An advantage of the analytical model is that it is set at the physical beams work
lines. This means that by examining the analytical model lines you could easily
determine if the physical beam is out of place or in the wrong location.
Consider the following girders as shown in the figure below.
This is how the structural framing of a roof looks like from “far away”. It looks correct
on a “macro” level but you need to

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1. Open FILE 01_ANALYTICAL_MODEL_START.rvt
2. Zoom to properly determine if the framing is truly correct to the location as shown in
the figure below for reference. Zooming into an intersection of a beam and girder
still does not reveal that anything is wrong with the framing as shown in the figure
below.

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Not until you turn on the analytical model do you see there is a problem. The
beams on each side of the girder do not line up. Turning on the analytical model
and looking around your structural framing is a very good way to QA/QC your
structural framing models. Try it!

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Fixing the problems
How do you fix this? It’s easy the following steps will show you how!

1. Select the analytical model and click “analytical adjust”

2. Adjust the node location so it is at the same location as the other node as
shown in the figure below

3. Now you must align the physical beams to the analytical lines. You first have
to model a model line in the beam.

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 4. To model a line in the beam family simply click on the structural beam and
click the edit family button and add a model line as shown in the figure
below.

Note: Make sure to lock the model line to the ends of the beams and the
middle of the beam and add the model line at the top of the beam.

5. Reload the beam back into the project. Now you see the “model line” at the
centre of the beam as shown in the figure below. If you are not able to finish
this step you may open 01_ANALYTICAL_MODEL_MID.rvt and continue to the
next step.

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 6. To align the beam to the analytical line, Select the align tool and select the
analytical line then select the MODEL LINE that you just modelled into your
structural beam. The physical beam is now in the correct location.
7. The analytical line followed the physical beam when it moved so now you
need to be adjusted the analytical line back the physical beam. To correct
this, select the analytical beam > select analytical adjust> select analytical
reset. You did it! The results are shown in the figure below. Also see the final
results in 01_ANALYTICAL_MODEL_FINAL.rvt

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EXERSIZE Using Yourself
The biggest, most underrated, and overlooked technology out in the AECO industry
today is YOU! Don’t forget to use yourself to make your structural workflow great.
Honestly, there are just some tasks that you need to perform in the office that even
the latest and greatest technologies could not do. For example, if you ever see
something in a model that just does not look “right” or you ever have a feeling that
something is making you uneasy about a model you are looking at whether it is
your model or someone else’s then say something. Take for example the image
below.

You, as the structure modeller, look at this linked architectural model and you
notice a toilet in front of vision glass with a structural column running through. This
could give you that feeling that this may just not look right. Chances are it is wrong
and you need to bring it to the attention of the architect but please make sure to
tell them nicely!

Page 22 of 44
EXERSIZE Using a Mass Element
Let’s review how to model beams if you use a mass model line. It’s the same thing
as a beam analytical line only more robust.

1. Open File 02_MASS_START.rvt

2. Create an in-place mass as shown in the figure below.

3. Active the model line and make sure that it is set to “3d”

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 4. Host the ends of the model line at the desired framing location (in this case
at the ¼ points) as shown in the figure below.

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 5. That’s it! Close the in-place mass and add a beam to the mass line by use
the beam pick command as shown in the image below. You may also lock
the beam to the line. The Result could also be viewed by opening
02_MASS_FINAL.rvt.

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EXERSIZE Use an Adaptive Component
Let’s review how to model beams if you use an adaptive component model line.
It’s the same thing as a beam analytical line only more robust.
1. Start a generic model adaptive as shown in the image below.

2. Make a two-point adaptive by drawing a line with two nodes on each end.
Then make those two points adaptive as shown in the image below. If you
are not finished with this step open
TWO_POINT_BEAM_CENTERLINE_ADAPTIVE.rfa to find the completed Revit AC
Family.

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 3. Insert the adaptive component completed in the previous step into the
03_AC_START.rvt file and follow steps 3 and 4 of the previous in-place mass
example to get your structural framing in the correct locations.

Now with the analytical model, in-place mass, and adaptive components you
could model any structural framing. Good luck!

If you don’t want to manually click on all the beams to place them on the AC lines,
then consider using Dynamo! We will explore this Dynamo workflow in the next
example. You could open 03_AC_FINAL.rvt to see the results.

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EXERSIZE Use a Repeater
1. Open File 04_REPEATER_START.rvt

2. Place your AC beams as 2 point repeaters in an in place mass or manually place

them (one by one) in the project environment. You now have a “bunch” of “lines”
that represent beams as shown in the image below.

3. To turn those ac lines into beams simply download and open Dynamo, Place the
following nodes as shown in the figure below. If you need to find the finished file
open 04_DYNAMO_FINAL.dyn

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4. All the beams get generated automatically. The great thing about using dynamo in
this way is if you ever add additional AC lines then they will automatically create
the beams and there is no need to “click” on each line to place the structural
beams.

5. Also, if the AC line every moves…. The beam moves with it because Dynamo is
always checking for changes. Good luck! You may also view the final results just
open 04_REPEATER_FINAL.rvt

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EXERSIZE Using the Flat Framing

There is a time when you want to just frame the roof flat during the conceptual
phase of the project because the final shape of the roof has not been determined
or because you may not be required to turn in a 3D model until after the concept
phase. If you notice the flat framing in plan looks the same as the curved framing in
plan.
As shown in the images below. So don’t waste your time model it flat if you could!

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Once your roof faming is modelled flat there will be a time when you need to then
model it sloped or to follow the shape of your roof. Don’t start from scratch. Use
Dynamo! Consider the following curved roof example as shown below.

To project the flat roof framing to the curved roof (or any roof shape) is to use the
following dynamo nodes as shown below.

You could view the final results in both the FlatFraming_Final.rvt and FlatFraming.dyn

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EXERSIZE Use Add-ins to Dynamo
Dynamo is a great tool but out of the box nodes and the nodes from the package
manager will only get you so far. There will be a time when you need to make your
own custom Dynamo nodes. Creating custom Dynamo nodes is analogous to
making your own custom families in Revit. Eventually you will need to do it. There
are a lot of resources out there to get you started. There are two basic custom
nodes you could create. 1. Using Python Scripting 2. Using Zero Touch that uses the
C# language. There are a few others but these two methods are a good place to
start. It is not the goal in this course to show you how to make custom nodes for
Dynamo, only to point you in a right direction and prove that custom node creation
could save you lots of time and is essential to every structural office’s workflow.
Consider the following Dynamo, this node shown below will place Dimensions
(automatically) from the closest x and y grid to the centre of an “off grid” column
or the vertices of a slab edge (if you draw model lines on the slab edges).

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This node is important because it could speed up the time it takes to place
dimensions on slab edge plans and to dimension to off grid columns. See the final
product below including the Dynamo definition and the dimensions to the slab
edge and off-grid columns. To learn more about creating custom nodes in Dynamo
visit http://dynamoprimer.com/09_Custom-Nodes/9-4_Python.html for Python and
https://github.com/DynamoDS/Dynamo/wiki/Zero-Touch-Plugin-Development for
Zero touch Nodes. Good Luck!

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EXERSIZE Simple Beam Orientation Using AC
Apply the power of AC principles to beams to change the orientation using a
massing surface and a divided surface and an AC. The final example should look
like the figure below

1. Open File 05_BEAM_ORIENTATION_START.rvt

2. Select the surface and click divide surface
3. Change the grid spacing to 2 and 12
4. Display the nodes on the divided surface
5. Add the two-point AC to each divided surface node
6. Select the AC and click the repeat icon
7. Watch the beams orient themselves to the surface as shown in the figure above
8. Also you may open 05_BEAM_ORIENTATION_FINAL.rvt so see the final result.

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EXERSIZE Align with Offset for beams w/Dynamo
I have noticed that the Revit community of more than one occasion has requested to
have the Align Tool add an "offset" option.
Well I am happy to report that with the new Dynamo 1.2 enhancements and the new
"Element.SetLocation" node it is now possible...at least in some cases. Let’s take the
example of Beams that need to be offset 1' from the edge of slab.
Follow the steps in the follow image and you will see that it is possible.

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EXERSIZE Canopy Framing Edge Beam
In this exercise you will be modelling the beams below

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 1. Open the Supporting File 06_CANOPY_START.rvt it should look like the figure
above.

2. Add this node

3. Add These nodes shown below

4. The final result should look like the figure

above.

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EXERSIZE Canopy Framing Single Beam
In this exercise you will be modelling a single beam at grid

1. Open the Supporting File it should look like the figure above

2. These nodes shown above

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 3. Open add These nodes shown above

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 4. Pick these elements shown above

5. The final result should look like the figure above.

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 6. Move grid C and see what happens! The result should look like the figure
above

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 7. Rotate grid C and see what happens! The result should look like the figure
above

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EXERSIZE Canopy Framing Multiple Beams
In this exercise you will be modelling multiple beams at the grids as shown in the
figure below.

1. Open the 06C_CANOPY_MULTI_START.rvt

2. Add nodes as shown and click run notice this time you are using a “select
model elements” not element. This creates a list of elements that you select.

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 3. Add nodes as shown and click run. Notice beams were created at all
selected Grids?!

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AR20572

More Families in Motion: New and Exciting Methods

That Make Your Revit Families Move
Marcello Sgambelluri
John A. Martin Structural Engineers

Learning Objectives
• Learn new methods to apply rotation parameters to masses and adaptive
component families
• Learn new methods to apply rotation parameters to traditional families
• Learn how to create multiple joints that move together in Revit families in 2D
planes
• Learn how to create multiple joints that move together in Revit families in 3D "Ball"
Joints

Description

Have you ever built a family in Revit software and needed to create rotation and dimensional
parameters because there were multiple moving parts? This class will show you how to create
parameters within the Revit software massing, adaptive component, and traditional Family
Editors so your families can move. Forget what you've learned about how to apply rotation and
dimensional parameters to Revit software families. This lecture will show new and exciting
methods that could be applied to most Revit software families and is intended to be Part 2 to the
class titled "Families in Motion" in previous years at Autodesk University. The class is sure to be
fun, exciting, and fresh.

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AR20572........................................................................................................................................................ 1

More Families in Motion: New and Exciting Methods That Make Your Revit Families Move ..................... 1

Introduction: Lifts ......................................................................................................................................... 4

PART 1 .............................................................................................................................. 6
Creating Base Rotation Rig.......................................................................................... 6
PART 2 ............................................................................................................................ 10
Creating Elevated Rotation Rigs ............................................................................... 10
Introduction: Folding Doors........................................................................................................................ 17

PART 1 ............................................................................................................................ 20
Creating Door Panel 1 ................................................................................................ 20
PART 2 ............................................................................................................................ 24
Creating Door Panel 2 ................................................................................................ 24
Introduction: 2D Components .................................................................................................................... 27

PART 1 ............................................................................................................................ 28
Building the Bones ....................................................................................................... 28
PART 2 ............................................................................................................................ 31
Building Rotation Rigs.................................................................................................. 31
Introduction: Cable Movements................................................................................................................. 33

Davit Cable Creation and Movement .................................................................... 34

Introduction: Ball Joint Movements ........................................................................................................... 37

Ball Joint Rotation using the Revit Cow ................................................................... 38

Introduction: 2D - Out of Plane Movement................................................................................................ 41

Out of Plane Movement from a 2D detail component (ATST)............................. 42

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Introduction: Lifts

I built this construction lift family to help understand how a virtual lift would "fit" inside of a
particular building. This lift was built per manufacture specifications. Follow the steps below to
make this lift family movable!

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You will be making the lift family movable by hosting points onto circles. This is known as "ride
the rail" method. As shown above in the rotation rig, the Ride the Rail method does not use the
angular dimension to control the angle of the hosting reference line. It uses the power of the
reference point to "ride" the "rail" of the circle or curve to control the angle.

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PART 1
Creating Base Rotation Rig
This portion of the exercise is only to introduce the concept of creating a rotation rig with points.

1. Open the file that has the bottom family EX_1_LIFT_START.RFA as shown in the figure
below.

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2. Create the Reference line as shown in in top down view the figure below.

3. Set the work plane of the isolated reference line.

4. Create a reference circle at the end of the isolated ref line.
5. Place two points anywhere on the circle.
6. Change the measurement type to "angle" in the properties for both points.
7. Create the following parameters to the first point "RIDE THE RAIL."
8. Create the following parameters to the first point "RIDE THE RAIL PLUS 180."
9. Select both points and click "spline thru points" and change new line to “reference line"
(this is the new hosting reference line.

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10.Congratulations! The Ride the Rail rotation rig is complete as shown in the figure below.

11.Set the Horizontal work plane of the new reference line.

12.Place the nested lift family "EX_1_LIFT_TOP_02.RFA" as work plane based at the middle
of the reference line.

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13.Map the nested lift family parameters to the host family as shown below.

14.Flex and enjoy. Take this family with you and practice! What other rotation angles could be
applied to this Ride the Rail rig?

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PART 2
Creating Elevated Rotation Rigs

1. Open the files titled EX_1_LIFT_START.rfa

2. First hide the top part of the lift family then set reference plane to the reference point's
plane that is parallel to the screen of the computer. Note that in Revit 2016 if the reference
plane of the base reference line was used instead of the point, the boom element would be
off in the distance.

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3. Draw a reference circle whose center is on the first center of rotation. Then draw a circle
where the radius as large as the next closest rotation point as shown in the figure below.

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4. Continue to draw circles at each node as shown in the previous step until all the joint
locations have nodes with reference. if you are not finished just simply open
EX_1_LIFT_MID.RFA to catch up!

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5. Now flex your nodes to the next position as shown in the figure above. If you are not
finished simply open EX_1_LIFT_FINAL.RFA to catch up!
6. We will not be adding angle parameters however you should do this to control the joints
once this family is placed in the project environment.
7. To add an angle parameter to each swing rig select the hosted node on the circle and
change the measurement type to angle and assign or create an angle parameter as shown
in the figure below.

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8. To add length parameter, do not use an aligned dimension. Take advantage of the
rotational rigs that were just created. Since each segment of "arm" spans from hosted nod
to hosted node then to make the "arm" longer just make the radius of the circle a
parameter as shown in the figure below

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9. Since this is a piece of construction equipment then there will need to be some limits on
the parameters that were just assigned. These booms are not allowed to move past a
certain point as shown in the specifications. Therefore, it is important to add some sort of
limitations to the parameters. There are two ways to do this. The method, that is controlled
by equations and the method that is controlled by the arc length of the circle
A. Limits by Equation: To replace the recently assigned parameters with a new parameter,
I typically use the name "limit" in the name. Then in the equation of the parameter list
the following limits as shown below.

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B. Limits by Arc Length: Use the "break" command and click twice on the reference circle.
Take the ends of the reference circle and place each of them at the true limits of the
angle, arm swing, limits as shown below. Presto! Instant angle limits! Repeat for all
reference circles. If you are not finished just open EX_1_LIFT_LIMITS_FINAL.RFA to
catch up!

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Introduction: Folding Doors

In this exercise we will be creating a custom bi-folding door family, as shown above

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We will use the classical family editor using the "revolve" method to create a rotation rig to
which we will be placing each door panel on. Let’s get started!

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It was this fundamental concept that had me realize that the Revolve element (which is one of
the four forms that could be created in the classic family editor) could have a constant angle
value and have its start and end angles move together
This would allow the arc angle to never be zero. As shown above the end of the revolve element
could be defined as a work plane similar to the point on Ride the Rail method.

From this, I created the "Revolve" rotation method as shown above in the rotation rig above
and notice that it uses the preset revolve form parameters of the start and end angles to
control the angle NOT the angle parameter. This way, the revolve element could be a constant
arc length/angle and the end angle is "chasing” its start angle.

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PART 1
Creating Door Panel 1

1. First start a new door family from the default family template in Revit. or open EX-
02_BI_DOOR_START.RFA. Go to the reference plan view.
2. Set the reference plane to interior. This will host the revolve profile as shown

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3. Create a rectangular profile where the top of the profile is at the floor line.
4. Select the revolve axis line as the vertical reference plane that intersects the center of
rotation as shown. Click OK when done and the revolve element will be created.

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5. Click on the revolve element and make it "not" visible. This will make the revolve element
not visible in the project environment. Note: this element could be left as "visible" and
be changed to look like a door handle instead of how the revolve element looks in
this example.
6. Create two angle parameters, create an angle parameter called "INPUT." This will be used
as the input angle, what is traditionally used to define how "open" a door is. I like to use the
end angle to control the back side of the angle instead of the front because it is easier to
work with.
7. Create another angle parameter called "a1" and "a2" and give it the formula as shown in
the figure below.
8. Assign the "a1" and "a2" parameter to the start and end preset parameters of the revolve
element respectfully.

9. Go to the top down 3D view and set the work plane to the end of the revolve element, this
is done so that the reference line that will host the door geometry is placed at the correct
plane.

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10.Create a reference line by picking the face of the end of the revolve element.
Congratulations! The Revolve rotation rig is now complete. If you are not finished simply
open EX-02_BI_DOOR_MID.RFA to catch up!

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PART 2
Creating Door Panel 2

11.Open EX-02_BI_DOOR_MID.RFA or continue from part 1 and Set the reference plane of
the host reference line to receive the door geometry, create the door geometry on the
hosting reference line.

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12.The door geometry will not be covered in this posting however; it is very simple to perform
just add an extrusion or nest a door family on the reference line.
13.Repeat Steps 2 thru 10 in part 1 except this time set the reference plane in step 2 to the
face of the revolve.

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14.Notice that the second bi-fold door moves with the first door. That is relative IK motion in
the classical family editor. If you are not finished open EX-02_ BI_DOOR_FINAL.RFA to
catch up. Load the family into the WALL_IN_PROJECT_START.RFA file and flex it!

15.More detailed steps are shown in the video in this link

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8UhAHxq5CGg

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Introduction: 2D Components

Page 27
In this example we will show how to create complex rotations (inverse kinematics) or joint
motion for a piece of complex mechanical equipment with multiple moving parts…oh and apply
it to a 2D detail component as shown above.

PART 1
Building the Bones

1. Create an ATST detail component as shown in the figure below or open the file:
ATST2D_START.RFA

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 2. Add reference lines where all the rigid links would occur as shown in the figure
below.

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3. Select each detail component filled region and element and click edit work plane as shown
in the figure.
4. Then select the reference line that the element is associated with. This will now allow for
the element (filled region) to move relative to the reference line.

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PART 2
Building Rotation Rigs

1. Open up ATST2D_MID.RFA or continue your model from part 1. Select each reference
line in the order shown and host them onto each other in the order of the number shown in
the figure below. This will allow for reference plane 2 to move relative to reference line 1
and reference line 3 to move relative to reference line 2; which will move relative to 1 and
so on.

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2. Set angles between each reference line. Select reference line 1 and watch the whole detail
component joints move together as shown in the figure below! If you are not finished
simply open up ATST2D_FINAL.RFA and you will be caught up!

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Introduction: Cable Movements
In this example we will show how to create a cable with realistic movement and attach it to an
existing Davit model. The existing Davit model was created in the adaptive component
environment and is shown below.

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Davit Cable Creation and Movement

1. First Open EX_04_DAVIT_MID.RFA

2. To add a cable, first place a reference point anywhere in the family as shown below.
3. Select the new placed node and the node in the slider cradle as shown in the figure below
and click "spline thru points." This will create the cable. Next we need to place the cable in
the correct location.

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4. Draw a circle as a surface that is hosted on the end point of the davit and the radius is the
max travel radius of the cable.

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 5. Host the end point of the cable onto the circle as shown in the image below. You now have
realistic cable movement. You are able to "extend" or "retract" the cable as needed. This
method could also be used on cranes or any equipment that uses cables.

Note: If you want to "flex" and move the cable in the project environment, simply create a
surface as shown in step 3 using an in-place mass then make the end point of the cable
"adaptive." Load the family into the project and host the adaptive point to the circular surface.
Now you could move the cable in the project environment!

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Introduction: Ball Joint Movements
In this example we will show how to create realistic ball joint movement by using the Revit
cows head movement as an example. The existing Revit cow model was created as a mass
family shown in the figure below.

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Ball Joint Rotation using the Revit Cow

1. Open file EX_05_COW_ROTATION.RFA. It should look like the figure below

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2. Change to 3D view and wire frame mode
3. Select the curve and the reference line to and click create for to make a sphere as shown
in the figure below

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 4. Select the point at the end of the line and select "pick new host" and host it to the sphere
as shown in the image below.

Select the hosted point and roll it around the surface! That’s joint rotation in Revit. Link those to
other ball joints or other planar (ride the rail) joints and you have an amazing IK system! Good
luck

Page 40
Introduction: 2D - Out of Plane Movement
In this example we will show how to create realistic out of plane movement from a 2D
component by using the 2D component from the previous example. The existing 2D ATST
component model was created as a 2D detail component family and is shown in the figure
below.

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Out of Plane Movement from a 2D detail component (ATST)

1. Open file "EX_06_ATST2D_OUT_OF_PLANE_START3D.RFA" it is the 3D version of the

ATST as shown in the image below

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1. Change the view to an elevation view and rotate the head at 10 degree increments, each
time save the view as a 2D dwg and repeat this for 0,10,20,30,40, and 50 degree head
rotations.
2.
3. Open up a new 2D detail component family and load in all of the dwg files you exported in
the previous step. Change each of the loaded dwg files visibility to parameters as shown.
The family should look like the image below.
4. Create equations and a dimensional parameter in each parameter as shown in the figure
below.

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5. Load the family into a project.
6. Select the family and move the "pull handle" and you are done! Now you have 3D out of
plane movement in a 2D detail component. If you are not finished simply open up file
"EX_06_ATST2D_OUT_OF_PLANE_FINAL.RFA" and flex the rotations and you will be
caught up!
7. I hope you had fun in this lab with rotation. Good luck!

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Session 2.2 (Lab)
Super Cutting Edge Revit Structural
Modelling Techniques
Using the Structural Analytical Model and
Other Methods
Marcello Sgambelluri
John A. Martin & Associates

Class Description
Learn how to use the latest cutting edge technology to help you model
structure in Revit. This lab will cover how to leverage the power of the modelling
tools available in the massing and adaptive environments as well as the tools in
the analytical model and even in Dynamo to help you model structure in Revit.
Keep an open mind in this lab. It will be fresh and fun!
Super Cutting Edge Revit Structural Modelling
Marcello Sgambelluri, JAMA

Table of Contents
Class Description 1

About the Speaker 2

EXERSIZES 4

EXERSIZE 1 Using the Analytical Model 5

EXERSIZE 2 Using a Mass Element 11

EXERSIZE 3 Use an Adaptive Component 14

EXERSIZE 4 Use a Repeater 16

EXERSIZE 5 Simple Beam Orientation Using AC 18

EXERSIZE 6A Canopy Framing Edge Beam 19

EXERSIZE 6B Canopy Framing Single Beam 22

EXERSIZE 6C Canopy Framing Multiple Beams 27

APPENDIX 29

Introduction to the Analytical Model 30

What is Dynamo? 38

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EXERSIZES

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EXERSIZE 1 Using the Analytical Model

Find the problem

An advantage of the analytical model is that it is set at the physical beams
work lines. This means that by examining the analytical model lines you could
easily determine if the physical beam is out of place or in the wrong location.
Consider the following girders as shown in the figure below.
This is how the structural framing of a roof looks like from “far away”. It looks
correct on a “macro” level but you need to

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1. Open FILE 01_ANALYTICAL_MODEL_START.rvt

2. Zoom in order to properly determine if the framing is truly correct to the
location as shown in the figure below for reference. Zooming into an
intersection of a beam and girder still does not reveal that anything is wrong
with the framing as shown in the figure below.

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Not until you turn on the analytical model do you see there is a problem. The
beams on each side of the girder do not line up. Turning on the analytical
model and looking around your structural framing is a very good way to
QA/QC your structural framing models. Try it!

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Fixing the problems

How do you fix this? It’s easy the following steps will show you how!

1. Select the analytical model and click “analytical adjust”

2. Adjust the node location so it is at the same location as the other node
as shown in the figure below

3. Now you must align the physical beams to the analytical lines. You first
have to model a model line in the beam.

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4. To model a line in the beam family simply click on the structural beam
and click the edit family button and add a model line as shown in the
figure below.

Note: Make sure to lock the model line to the ends of the beams and the
middle of the beam and add the model line at the top of the beam.

5. Reload the beam back into the project. Now you see the “model line” at
the center of the beam as shown in the figure below. If you are not able
to finish this step you may open 01_ANALYTICAL_MODEL_MID.rvt and
continue to the next step.

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6. To align the beam to the analytical line, Select the align tool and select
the analytical line then select the MODEL LINE that you just modeled into
your structural beam. The physical beam is now in the correct location.
7. The analytical line followed the physical beam when it moved so now
you need to be adjusted the analytical line back the physical beam. To
correct this, select the analytical beam > select analytical adjust> select
analytical reset. You did it! The results are shown in the figure below. Also
see the final results in 01_ANALYTICAL_MODEL_FINAL.rvt

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EXERSIZE 2 Using a Mass Element

Let’s review how to model beams if you use a mass model line. It’s the same
thing as a beam analytical line only more robust.

1. Open File 02_MASS_START.rvt

2. Create an in-place mass as shown in the figure below.

3. Active the model line and make sure that it is set to “3d”

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4. Host the ends of the model line at the desired framing location (in this
case at the ¼ points as shown in the figure below.

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5. That’s it! Close the in place mass and add a beam to the mass line by
use the beam pick command as shown in the image below. You may
also lock the beam to the line. The Final result could also be viewed by
opening 02_MASS_FINAL.rvt.

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EXERSIZE 3 Use an Adaptive Component

Let’s review how to model beams if you use an adaptive component model
line.
It’s the same thing as a beam analytical line only more robust.
1. Start a generic model adaptive as shown in the image below.

2. Make a two point adaptive by drawing a line with two nodes on each
end. Then make those two points adaptive as shown in the image below.
If you are not finished with this step open
TWO_POINT_BEAM_CENTERLINE_ADAPTIVE.rfa to find the completed Revit
AC Family.

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3. Insert the adaptive component completed in the previous step into the
03_AC_START.rvt file and follow steps 3 and 4 of the previous in-place
mass example to get your structural framing in the correct locations.

Now with the analytical model, in-place mass, and adaptive components you
could model any structural framing. Good luck!

If you don’t want to manually click on all the beams to place them on the AC
lines then consider using Dynamo! We will explore this Dynamo workflow in the
next example. You could open 03_AC_FINAL.rvt to see the final results.

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EXERSIZE 4 Use a Repeater

1. Open File 04_REPEATER_START.rvt

2. Place your AC beams as 2 point repeaters in an in place mass or manually

place them (one by one) in the project environment. You now have a
“bunch” of “lines” that represent beams as shown in the image below.

3. To turn those ac lines into beams simply download and open Dynamo,
Place the following nodes as shown in the figure below. If you need to find
the finished file open 04_DYNAMO_FINAL.dyn

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4. All the beams get generated automatically. The great thing about using
dynamo in this way is if you ever add additional AC lines then they will
automatically create the beams and there is no need to “click” on each
line to place the structural beams.

5. Also, if the AC line every moves…. The beam moves with it because
Dynamo is always checking for changes. Good luck! You may also view the
final results just open 04_REPEATER_FINAL.rvt

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EXERSIZE 5 Simple Beam Orientation Using AC

Let’s now apply these principles to beams to change the orientation using a
massing surface and a divided surface and an AC. The final example should
look like the figure below

1. Open File 05_BEAM_ORIENTATION_START.rvt

2. Select the surface and click divide surface
3. Change the grid spacing to 2 and 12
4. Display the nodes on the divided surface
5. Add the two point AC to each divided surface node
6. Select the AC and click the repeat icon
7. Watch the beams orient themselves to the surface as shown in the figure
above
8. Also you may open 05_BEAM_ORIENTATION_FINAL.rvt so see the final result.

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EXERSIZE 6A Canopy Framing Edge Beam

In this exercise you will be modelling the beams below

1. Open the Supporting File 06_CANOPY_START.rvt it should look like the

figure above.

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2. Add this node

3. Add These nodes shown below

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4. The final result should look like the figure above.

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EXERSIZE 6B Canopy Framing Single Beam

In this exercise you will be modelling a single beam at grid

1. Open the Supporting File it should look like the figure above

2. These nodes shown above

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3. Open add These nodes shown above

4. Pick these elements shown above

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5. The final result should look like the figure above.

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6. Move grid C and see what happens! The final result should look like the
figure above

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7. Rotate grid C and see what happens! The final result should look like the
figure above

EXERSIZE 6C Canopy Framing Multiple Beams

In this exercise you will be modelling multiple beams at the grids as shown in the
figure below.

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1. Open the 06C_CANOPY_MULTI_START.rvt

2. Add nodes as shown and click run notice this time you are using a “select
model elements” not element. This creates a list of elements that you
select.

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3. Add nodes as shown and click run. Notice beams were created at all
selected Grids?!

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APPENDIX

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Introduction to the Analytical Model

The reason why an analytical model is created is so that you could send that
model to an external structural analysis program such as RISA or ETABS. This
course will NOT be discussing how to “link” the analysis model to structural
analysis. In fact, this course explains how you could use the analytical model to
QA/QC your physical model, and how to use the powerful analytical editing
environment to help you model and adjust your physical structural elements.

The Analytical Model

Whenever you model a physical structural beam, structural column, structural
wall, or structural floor an analytical element is created automatically behind
them. You could see the analytical elements that were created by turning on
the analytical category visibility in the visibility graphics options as shown in the
image below.

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Each analytical element is different. The figures below summarize what each
analytical model looks like for each structural element.

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Adjusting the Analytical model

The analytical model allows you to adjust its locations. This is a very big deal
because the “world” which the analytical model edit mode resides is very
similar to the mass family and adaptive component editors. That means you
have access to change the location of any analytical element by changing its
analytical node location.

Analytical Edit Mode

The analytical edit mode is the edit mode that is activated when you toggle
the “adjust analytical” command. It is in this “world” that you are able to adjust
the analytical model. This analytical edit mode has some features that are
helpful when adjusting the analytical and ultimately the physical model. You
are allowed to add dimensions that only ever exist in the analytical edit mode.
As mentioned earlier, the analytical node is only available in the analytical edit
mode.

In order to activate the analytical edit model, first you have to select an
analytical element and click on the “Analytical Adjust” button. This command
is found under the modify command when an analytical beam is selected as
shown in the figure below. It could also be found under the Analyze tab.

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Once the analytical model is in the “Analytical Adjust” mode you are allowed
to change the elements nodal locations as shown in the figure below.

Unique Characteristics of the Analytical node

The analytical node shown in the figure below has some very powerful and
unique characteristics. The analytical node has pull handles, in global
coordinates that can be adjusted easily.

Analytical nodes are also able to be hosted onto other elements including
analytical beams, analytical columns, analytical walls and analytical floors. A

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hosted node will appear as a small sphere while a non-hosted node will appear
as a large sphere as shown in the figure below. Contrast this with the end of a
physical beam. It’s hard to tell by looking at the end of a physical beam if it is
hosted to its supporting girder.

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Another unique characteristic of an analytical node is the ability to set the

hosted node’s location based on a relative location along a hosted curve as
shown in the figure below. It is not possible to do this with the end of a physical
beam. In the example in the figure below, the node/end of the analytical
beam is ½ the distance from the end of the analytical girder.

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Super Cutting Edge Revit Structural Modelling
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Adjusting the Physical model

Let’s first discuss what happens to the relationship of the physical and the
analytical model when the analytical model is adjusted. Let’s take the one-
story framing example as shown in the figure below. If one end of the middle
analytical beam is moved 2’-0” away from its physical beam end and the
physical beam end is later moved, the relationship or “offset” remains the same
as shown in the figure below.

The analytical model is always adjusted from the physical model however there
is nothing preventing you from adjusting the physical model to the analytical
models location. This course will describe how to use the powerful adjustment
tools for the analytical model and then adjust the physical model to match the
analytical models location. Until the developers give the same editing tools to
the physical model that are now part of the analytical model we have to take
matters into our own hands. To adjust the physical model to match the
adjusted analytical model, follow the steps below.

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Super Cutting Edge Revit Structural Modelling
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What is Dynamo?
This is a very difficult question to answer simply because Dynamo does SO
much. Below is my answer to this question and I hope it clarifies it for some of
you.
Dynamo is a free program from Autodesk that uses visual programming.
Dynamo primarily does two tasks.
1. Creates its own geometry with parametric relationships.
2. Reads and writes to and from external databases.
Since Dynamo creates its own geometry and reads and writes to external
databases it is a perfect fit to interact with Revit because....isn’t Revit simply a
database with parametric geometry? Dynamo is a stand-alone program but it
could be used as an "add-on" to Revit.

Dynamo reads and writes back data to and from the Revit database via the
Revit API. The data could be just about anything, parameter values, family
geometry, and family placement.
Basically Dynamo manipulates the Revit database in ways that the UI (user
interface) could not. For example in Dynamo you could set the base of all the
walls and all the columns to the same elevation. This means that you could set
parameters from different families equal to each other. Would that be helpful?
Dynamo also provides a direct relationship between its OWN geometry and
Revit. For example in Dynamo you could model a cone and a plane, find the
intersection of those
elements (results in a
curve) and then
assign a Structural
Revit Beam IN REVIT
to that Dynamo
curve and they
would be forever
"linked" meaning if
the dynamo curve
changed location
then the Revit Beam
would change
location as well. All
the while the original
cone, plane, and
curve would REMAIN
in the dynamo
program while the
Structural Beam would remain in Revit. The applications for Dynamo and Revit
are endless.

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Super Cutting Edge Revit Structural Modelling
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Just about any Revit user could learn Dynamo (since it uses visual programming
it is very simple to learn) they could access the Revit api and perform simple
tasks that only could have previously been performed with writing an add-on or
writing a macro with .net language for Revit. Oh and don't forget that Dynamo
is completely free and is updated constantly. If you need the latest build or
more information visit www.dynamoBIM.org and get started.

Dynamo is ever evolving so now is the time to download load it and learn it.
Why wait its free! By the way Dynamo could also be used to create a
grasshopper in Revit as shown in the figure below.

Dynamo is developing so fast that is has daily builds. That means that a new
version is released on a daily basis. Of course most of it is untested so there are
“stable” builds that are released about every 2 months or so. The latest version
of Dynamo (version .74) had the backend code rewritten to include and
incorporate Design Script methodology.

Design Script is the easiest text programing language to learn for the non-
programmer. I know because I learned it! Basically Dynamo merged Design
Script Studio (which was also a visual programming environment) Design Script
basically allows Dynamo functionality to be done using simple text driven
programming. If you want more information on Design Script visit the following
link http://designscript.ning.com/.

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Let’s face it the Revit API is a very difficult thing to utilize. For the most part you
need to be an Autodesk developer or an experienced .net programmer to use
the API and write programs. The API was developed for developers by
developers and
therefore it
could be a very
confusing thing
to understand
let alone try to
use for many
Revit users.
I am happy to
say that
Dynamo
basically allows
users to use the
Revit API thru
visual
programming
using “nodes”
and “wires”
instead of text.
This means that
any Revit user
could use the
API and create
custom simple
routines without
having to know
.net language or
without having
to hire an
outside API
consultant.

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Dynamo Basics and the interface.

Nodes are the boxes you place and connect together with Wires to form a
program. Nodes can represent any Function of the API as shown in the Figure
below.

Wires connect between Nodes to pass information between nodes. Wires only
flow in one direction.

Wires connect the output Port from one Node to the input Port of another node.
To create a wire simply use the mouse and left click hold and drag from one
port to another port. Wires are dashed while being dragged and then turn solid
when connected. You could also pull the wire away to disconnect it from the
port.

Information flows through the Ports from left to right.

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The Dynamo “canvas” is shown in the Figure below. The Pull-down Menu is used
to open and save dynamo files, to copy and paste operations, change settings
and also access the “Package Manager” The Package Manager allows
Dynamo users to create custom Dynamo nodes using either Python Scripting or
Nesting other nodes into each other and then posting them as a “Package” so
other Dynamo users could use them. Yes that’s right if you want to you could
become a Dynamo developer and share your custom content!

The Node Library is similar

to the view and browser
in Revit where it shows all
the available nodes to be
used. The Dynamo
Canvas is the main
“workspace”
environment for creation
of all Dynamo visual
programming. The
Execution Bar runs or
executes the current
workspace. What is
unique to programming
in Dynamo is the ability to
run the program in “real
time” and if you want to
do that simply click the
“Run Automatically" box.

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AS10613 & AS13937

More Practical Dynamo:

Practical Uses for Dynamo
Within Revit
MARCELLO SGAMBELLURI, BIM DIRECTOR
JOHN A. MARTIN & ASSOCIATES

Learning Objectives
Learn how to program using visual programming.
Discover more practical applications of Dynamo for
Revit.
Learn how to create practical uses in the office using the Dynamo extension
for Revit software.
Learn how to automate repetitive manual Revit tasks using the Dynamo
extension.

Description
Have you ever wanted to learn more about the Dynamo visual programming
language extension for Revit software but thought it wasn’t for you? This
lecture will describe the uses of the Dynamo extension and explain how it
interacts with Revit software to help any Revit user. The Dynamo extension is
a program that uses visual programming, but don‘t be scared. This lecture will
teach attendees how to use the Dynamo extension even if they have no prior
programming experience. This lecture will also give attendees very gradual
doses of the Dynamo extension and visual programming so that they leave
with the skills to apply the Dynamo extension to practical Revit software
workflows. And don’t forget that the Dynamo extension is an add-on to Revit.

1
Your AU Expert

Marcello is the BIM Director at John

A. Martin & Associates Structural
Engineers in Los Angeles, CA. He
has been using Autodesk products for
over 15 years including AutoCAD, 3ds
Max, and Revit. Marcello is heavily
devoted to helping advance the use
and knowledge of BIM solutions
within the AEC community. He is well
known for modeling elements and
creating workflows that others have
thought not possible. He also
frequently presents at Autodesk
University and at The Revit
Technology Conference where he has been voted the top rated speaker three
years in a row at both conferences. He has worked on many well-known
projects in the past including the Walt Disney Concert Hall in Los Angeles, CA,
the Stata Center at MIT, and the Tom Bradley International Terminal Expansion
at LAX. Marcello received B.S. and M.S. degrees in Civil Engineering and is a
licensed Civil and Structural Engineer.
Read more of Marcello's work at Simply Complex, a blog dedicated to
modeling and documenting complex geometry in the AEC industry using
Autodesk products. You can also email Marcello ([email protected]) or
follow him on Twitter.

2
 OUTLINE
INTRODUCTION
Introduction to Dynamo ............................................................................................................ 4
EXAMPLES
TEXT TO UPPERCASE ............................................................................................................... 11
Structural Framing Using Adaptive Components ...................................................................... 16
Topography Property Lines ..................................................................................................... 24
Creating 3D Rooms .................................................................................................................. 31
APPENDIX
Aligning True North with Revit ................................................................................................ 39
Using the Revit "Repeater" Command ..................................................................................... 40
Get a Center-line of a Structural Column .................................................................................. 42
Create grids in Revit using DynamoBIM.................................................................................... 42
Create levels in Revit using DynamoBIM .................................................................................. 43
Add fillets to a series of separate lines in DynamoBIM ............................................................. 47
Scale Any DynamoBIM Geometry ............................................................................................ 49
Get the Worksharing Status of a Revit File ............................................................................... 51
Create a list or nested list in DynamoBIM Using Design Script ................................................. 56
Get the Revit Version and Build Number .................................................................................. 58
How to Use IF Statements in DynamoBIM ................................................................................ 61
What a Selected Element looks like in Dynamo ........................................................................ 62
Extract an item from a list in DynamoBIM ................................................................................ 66
Ranged Expressions using Design Script in DynamoBIM ........................................................... 68
Set a Type parameter in a loadable family ............................................................................... 70
Setting Pilaster Height Equal to Grade Beam Depth ................................................................. 72
Select all Loadable Revit Family Instances Using DynamoBIM? ................................................ 74
The real Category Names in DynamoBIM? ... It Depends.... ..................................................... 76
Confused by Revit Family Selection Node Names in Dynamo? .................................................. 78

3
 Introduction to Dynamo
This is a very difficult question to answer simply because Dynamo does SO much.
Below is my answer to this question and I hope it clarifies it for some of you.

Dynamo is a free program from Autodesk that uses visual programming.

Dynamo primarily does two tasks:

1. Creates its own geometry with parametric r e l a t i o n s h i p s .

2. Reads and writes to and from external d a t a b a s e s .

Since Dynamo creates its own geometry and reads and writes to external databases
it is a perfect fit to interact with Revit because....isn’t Revit simply a database with
parametric geometry? Dynamo is a stand-alone program but it could be used as an
"add-on" to Revit.
Dynamo reads and writes back data to and from the Revit database via the Revit
API. The data could be just about anything, parameter values, family geometry,
and family placement.
Basically Dynamo manipulates the Revit database in ways that the UI (user
interface) could not. For example in Dynamo you could set the base of all the walls
and all the columns to the same elevation. This means that you could set
parameters from different families equal to each other. Would that be helpful?

Dynamo also provides a direct relationship between its OWN geometry and Revit.
For example in Dynamo you could model a cone and a plane, find the intersection
of those elements (results in a curve) and then assign a Structural Revit Beam IN
REVIT to that Dynamo curve and they would be forever "linked" meaning if the
dynamo curve changed location then the Revit Beam would change location as
well. All the while the original cone, plane, and curve would REMAIN in the dynamo
program while the Structural Beam would remain in Revit. The applications for
Dynamo and Revit are endless.

4
Every Revit User Gets to Touch the API

Any Revit user could learn Dynamo (

since it uses visual programming it is
very simple to learn) they could
access the Revit api and perform
simple tasks that only could have
previously been performed with
writing an add-on or writing a macro
with .net language for Revit. Oh and
don't forget that Dynamo is
completely free and is updated
constantly.

Dynamo is ever evolving so now is

the time to download load it and learn
it. Why wait its free! By the way
Dynamo could also be used to create
a grasshopper and a Corinthian
column as shown in the figures below
.

5
I am happy to say that Dynamo
basically allows users to use the
Revit API thru visual programming
using “nodes” and “wires” instead of
text. This means that any Revit user
could use the API and create custom
simple routines without having to
know .net language or without having
to hire an outside API consultant.

Installing or Updating
DynamoBIM
DynamoBIM is a free open source
program that also acts as an addin for Revit. Are you worried about addins to Revit?
Since DynamoBIM's development is supported by Autodesk the download and install
is seamless with Revit.If you needed to install it or need anyone else to install it. Go
to DynamoBIM.org click download and install it. Click finish and that’s it!

Click on the Dynamo button and it will open a separate window that is the Dynamo
interface. It’s best to use dual monitors when using D y n a m o .

6
TEXT TO UPPERCASE
Changing Plan View Names to Uppercase in Revit

Have you ever wanted to change the plan view names in your Revit model to all
UPPERCASE?

DynamoBIM is here to help you. Simply follow the Dynamo Graph below and you
will get it done!

If it is your office policy to always use uppercase on your plan view names then this
is a great tool to help you do it because DynamoBIM will save you time out of your
busy schedule to "automate" this process instead of having to do it manually.
Good Luck!

11
Changing Sheet Names to Uppercase in Revit

Have you ever wanted to change the sheet names in your Revit model to all
UPPERCASE?

DynamoBIM is here to help you. Simply follow the Dynamo Graph below and you
will get it done!

Why use DynamoBIM to do this? If it is your office policy to always use upper case
on your sheet names then this is a great tool to help you do it. Why not make the
sheet names all upper case to begin with? Well, we are all human and we will (at
some point) mistakenly make a sheet name (or other tag or name) lower case.
Dynamo will help keep you and your office stay in c h e c k !

12
Changing Room Text to Uppercase in Revit

Have you ever wanted to change the names of your rooms (that is shown in your
tags) in your Revit model to all U P P E R C A S E ?
Simply follow the Dynamo Graph below and you will get it done!

This example only shows you how to change the name of the rooms to upper case
but you could use this same method to change the text of Sheet Names, Sheet
Numbers, Views and most any text parameter to upper case. Simply select those
Revit Family Instances and change the parameter name from "Name" to something
else. I have tried it on Sheet names and views a l r e a d y !
13
Text Note to Uppercase in Revit Using Custom Zero
Touch Node
You are not able to change the text of a text note to uppercase using the methods
shown previously because the text in a text note is not displayed in a parameter. I
wish it were. Therefore, instead of using an out of the box dynamo node you have
to create a custom node. in this case I already created a custom node that
changes the text of a text note using Zero Touch and c#. If you don't know zero
touch nodes are the new way of creating custom nodes in Revit. Since this is an
introductory class into DynamoBIM I will not go into great detail on how it works.
Just rest assured that there is a node that will change text note text and it’s free!

If you want to learn more about Zero Touch Custom Node creation then read about
it here. Don't wait too long because all the cool kids are learning how to create
custom nodes in Revit and you don't want to be left behind. Custom nodes are like
custom families in Revit...you will have to learn how to create them eventually

15
Structural Framing Using
Adaptive Components

Let’s review how to model beams if you use an adaptive component model line. It’s
the same thing as a beam analytical line only more r o b u s t .

1. Start a generic model adaptive as shown in the image b e l o w .

16
2. Make a two point adaptive by drawing a line with two nodes on each end. Then
make those two points adaptive as shown in the image b e l o w .

3. Insert the adaptive component into the project environment and follow steps 3
and 4 of the previous in-place mass example to get your structural framing in
the correct locations.

4. If you don’t want to manually click on all the beams to place them on the AC
lines then consider using dynamo! Its easy.

22
Dynamo to the Rescue

5. Place your AC beams as 2 point

repeaters in an in place mass or
manually place them (one by one) in
the project environment. You now
have a “bunch” of “lines” that
represent beams as shown in the
image b e l o w .

6. To turn those ac lines into beams simply download and open Dynamo. Place
the following nodes as shown in the figure b e l o w .

23
Topography Property Lines
Making 2D property lines Follow Topography in Revit
and adding offsets and fencing
Have you ever wanted to create a property line in Revit that follows topography?
What about an offset of that property line or what about fencing around that offset
property line?

It’s easy if you use DynamoBIM and not that "import/export dwg" workaround. See
the images below. Make sure you download the "Spring Nodes" package from the
Dynamo Package manager since we will be using one of those custom nodes for
this exercise. Thank you Dimitar Venkov for t h a t !

24
Note: If the points do not occur at the ends of the desired line vertices, then use the
intersection command to place extra points at those locations. Or you could place
end points at the original property line curves using D y n a m o .

25
Creating 3D Rooms
via Direct Shape
It is possible to CREATE 3D rooms in Revit based on 2D room geometry. The best
method is to use Direct Shape!

Its simple. Just add the nodes as shown in the image below. And here's the best
part: the 3D rooms are placed with this method in the Room Category! Just Make
sure you are using at least Dynamo Version . 9x

31
Creating 3D Rooms in Revit via SAT Import

A second method for creating 3D rooms in Revit based on 2D room geometry is to

use an SAT Import. While it's simpler, it does not give you the room category.
Just add the nodes as shown in the image b e l o w .

32
 Creating 3D MEP SPACES in Revit via SAT Import
It's also possible to create 3D objects in Revit based on MEP space geometry.

Why would you do this? MEP spaces in Revit are 2D elements. Its simple. Just
follow the steps outlined and summarized b e l o w .

Step 1: Place these 4 nodes as shown and wire them up (Categories, All Elements
of Category, Element. Geometry, InportInstance. ByGeometries)

Step 2: Click Run. You will see a 3D view of your Revit MEP spaces in Dynamo
and it will create 3D objects (as symbol imports) in your Revit Model.

33
View Revit MEP SPACES in 3D

Have you ever tried to view your Revit MEP spaces in a 3D view in Revit? You
cant do it using Revit.
Visualize them using DynamoBim! It only takes 3 Nodes. Simply follow the steps
below.

34
What is Direct Shape? And 3d Stacking Diagram
Direct shape is a new element that is created from Dynamo geometry that is then
imported into Revit as a specific category. What category? Any category! Because
of this it makes direct shape very powerful. Previous to direct shape there was only
"sat import" that allowed you to take dynamo geometry into Revit. The only draw
back from direct shape is that it "triangulates" or meshes out the geometry so if you
have a curved surface it will turn it into triangle. That is good for rectilinear
geometry such as rooms and MEP spaces and not so good for curved geometry.
Below is an extreme sample of how you could use direct shape to send dynamo
geometry into Revit. Lets take the example of some complicated dynamo geometry
. Every wanted to create a 3d stacking diagram from rooms? See the following
example below and it will show you how! Simply add the nodes that you see and
you are all done!

35
AS10620-L & AS13597-L AU2015

Families In Motion: New and

Exciting Methods that Make
Your Revit Families Move
MARCELLO SGAMBELLURI, BIM DIRECTOR
JOHN A. MARTIN AND ASSOCIATES (JAMA)

Learning Objectives
Learn new methods to apply rotation parameters to masses and adaptive
component families
Learn new methods to apply rotation parameters to traditional families
Learn how to create multiple joints that move together in Revit Families in 2D
planes
Learn how to create multiple joints that move together in Revit Families in 3D
"Ball" Joints

Description
Have you ever built a family in Revit software and needed to create rotation and
dimensional parameters because there were multiple moving parts? This class will
show you how to create parameters within the Revit software massing, adaptive
component, and traditional Family Editors so your families can move. Just some of
the examples we will show include folding-door rotation, articulating booms on
cranes, and swinging roof davits. Forget what you've learned about how to apply
rotation and dimensional parameters to Revit software families. This lecture will
show new and exciting methods that could be applied to most Revit families.
There will even be a portion of the lecture dedicated to simulating ball joint
movement. The class is sure to be fun, exciting, and fresh.
1
About The Speaker

Marcello is the BIM Director at John A.

Martin & Associates Structural
Engineers in Los Angeles, CA. He has
been using Autodesk products for over
15 years including AutoCAD, 3ds Max,
and Revit. Marcello is heavily devoted
to helping advance the use and
knowledge of BIM solutions within the
AEC community. He is well known for
modeling elements and creating
workflows that others have thought not
possible. He also frequently presents
at Autodesk University and at The
Revit
Technology Conference where he has been voted the top rated speaker three
years in a row at both conferences. He has worked on many well-known projects
in the past including the Walt Disney Concert Hall in Los Angeles, CA, the Stata
Center at MIT, and the Tom Bradley International Terminal Expansion at LAX.
Marcello received B.S. and M.S. degrees in Civil Engineering and is a licensed
Civil and Structural Engineer.

Read more of Marcello's work at

Simply Complex, a blog dedicated
to modeling and documenting
complex geometry in the AEC
industry using Autodesk products.
You can also email Marcello
([email protected])
or follow him on Twitter.

2
Introduction: Lifts

I built this construction lift family to help understand how a virtual lift would "fit"
inside of a particular building. This lift was built per manufacture specifications.
Follow the steps below to make this lift family movable!

3
You will be making the lift family movable by hosting points onto circles. This is
known as "ride the rail" method. As shown above in the rotation rig, the Ride the
Rail method does not use the angular dimension to control the angle of the hosting
reference line. It uses the power of the reference point to "ride" the "rail" of the
circle or curve to control the angle

4
PART 1

Creating Base Rotation Rig

This portion of the exercise is only to introduce the concept of creating a rotation
rig with points.

1. Open the file that has the bottom family EX_1_LIFT_START.RFA as shown in
the figure below.

5
2. Create the Reference line as shown in in top down view the figure below.

3. Set the work plane of the isolated reference line.

4. Create a reference circle at the end of the isolated ref line.
5. Place two points anywhere on the circle.
6. Change the measurement type to "angle" in the properties for both points.
7. Create the following parameters to the first point "RIDE THE RAIL."
8. Create the following parameters to the first point "RIDE THE RAIL PLUS 180."
9. Select both points and click "spline thru points" and change new line to "
reference line" (this is the new hosting reference line.

6
10.Congratulations! The Ride the Rail rotation rig is complete as shown in the
figure below.

11.Set the Horizontal work plane of the new reference line.

12.Place the nested lift family "EX_1_LIFT_TOP_02.RFA" as work plane based at
the middle of the reference line.

7
13.Map the nested lift family parameters to the host family as shown below.

14.Flex and enjoy. Take this family with you and practice! What other rotation
angles could be applied to this Ride the Rail rig?

8
PART 2

Creating Elevated Rotation Rigs

1. Open the files titled EX_1_LIFT_START.rfa
2. First hide the top part of the lift family then set reference plane to the reference
point's plane that is parallel to the screen of the computer. Note that in Revit 2016
if the reference plane of the base reference line was used instead of the point, the
boom element would be off in the distance.

9
3. Draw a reference circle whose center is on the first center of rotation. Then
draw a circle where the radius as large as the next closest rotation point as
shown in the figure below.

4. Continue to draw circles at each node as shown in the previous step until all the
joint locations have nodes with reference. if you are not finished just simply
open EX_1_LIFT_MID.RFA to catch up!

10
5. Now flex your nodes to the next position as shown in the figure above. If you
are not finished simply open EX_1_LIFT_FINAL.RFA to catch up!
6. We will not be adding angle parameters however you should do this to control
the joints once this family is placed in the project environment.

11
7. To add an angle parameter to each swing rig select the hosted node on the
circle and change the measurement type to angle and assign or create an
angle parameter as shown in the figure below.

12
8. To add length parameter, do not use an aligned dimension. Take advantage of
the rotational rigs that were just created. Since each segment of "arm" spans
from hosted nod to hosted node then to make the "arm" longer just make the
radius of the circle a parameter as shown in the figure below

13
1. Since this is a piece of construction equipment then there will need to be some
limits on the parameters that were just assigned. These booms are not allowed
to move past a certain point as shown in the specifications. Therefore, it is
important to add some sort of limitations to the parameters. There are two
ways to do this. The method, that is controlled by equations and the method
that is controlled by the arc length of the circle

A. Limits by Equation: To replace the recently assigned parameters with a new

parameter, I typically use the name "limit" in the name. Then in the equation
of the parameter list the following limits as shown below.

14
 B. Limits by Arc Length: Use the "break" command and click twice on the
reference circle. Take the ends of the reference circle and place each of
them at the true limits of the angle, arm swing, limits as shown
below.Presto! Instant angle limits! Repeat for all reference circles. If you
are not finished just open EX_1_LIFT_LIMITS_FINAL.RFA to catch up!

One final exercise to test how the lift works simply open EX_1_
LIFT_REACH_FINAL.RFA and select only the nodes and try to get the lift to reach
the "window" in the family.

15
Introduction: Folding Doors

In this exercise we will be creating a custom bi-folding door family, as shown above
, within the classical family editor using the "revolve" method to create a rotation rig
to which we will be placing each door panel on. Let’s get started!

16
It was this fundamental concept that had me realize that the Revolve element (which
is one of the four forms that could be created in the classic family editor) could have
a constant angle value and have its start and end angles move together
This would allow the arc angle to never be zero. As shown above the end of the
revolve element could be defined as a work plane similar to the point on Ride the
Rail method.

17
From this, I created the "Revolve" rotation method as shown above in the rotation
rig above and notice that it uses the preset revolve form parameters of the start
and end angles to control the angle NOT the angle parameter. This way, the
revolve element could be a constant arc length/angle and the end angle is "chasing”
its start angle.

18
PART 1

Creating Door Panel 1

1. First start a new door family from the default family template in Revit. or open
EX-02_BI_DOOR_START.RFA. Go to the reference plan view.
2. Set the reference plane to interior. This will host the revolve profile as shown

3. Create a rectangular profile where the top of the profile is at the floor line.
4. Select the revolve axis line as the vertical reference plane that intersects the
center of rotation as shown. Click OK when done and the revolve element will
be created.

19
5. Click on the revolve element and make it "not" visible. This will make the
revolve element not visible in the project environment. Note: this element
could be left as "visible" and be changed to look like a door handle
instead of how the revolve element looks in this example.
6. Create two angle parameters, create an angle parameter called "INPUT." This
will be used as the input angle, what is traditionally used to define how "open" a
door is. I like to use the end angle to control the back side of the angle instead
of the front because it is easier to work with.
7. Create another angle parameter called "a1" and "a2" and give it the formula as
shown in the figure below.
8. Assign the "a1" and "a2" parameter to the start and end preset parameters of
the revolve element respectfully.

20
9. Go to the top down 3D view and set the work plane to the end of the revolve
element, this is done so that the reference line that will host the door geometry
is placed at the correct plane.

21
10.Create a reference line by picking the face of the end of the revolve element.
Congratulations! The Revolve rotation rig is now complete. If you are not
finished simply open EX-02_BI_DOOR_MID.RFA to catch u p !

22
PART 2

Creating Door Panel 2

11.Open EX-02_BI_DOOR_MID.RFA or continue from part 1 and Set the

reference plane of the host reference line to receive the door geometry, create
the door geometry on the hosting reference l i n e .

23
12.The door geometry will not be covered in this posting however; it is very simple
to perform just add an extrusion or nest a door family on the reference line.
13.Repeat Steps 2 thru 10 in part 1 except this time set the reference plane in step
2 to the face of the revolve.

24
14.Notice that the second bi-fold door moves with the first door. That is relative IK
motion in the classical family editor. If you are not finished open EX-02_
BI_DOOR_FINAL.RFA to catch up. Load the family into the
WALL_IN_PROJECT_START.RFA file and flex it!

15.More detailed steps are shown in the video in this link

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8UhAHxq5CGg.

25
Introduction: 2D Components

In this example we will show how to create complex rotations (inverse kinematics)
or joint motion for a piece of complex mechanical equipment with multiple moving
parts…oh and apply it to a 2D detail component as shown a b o v e .
26
PART 1

Building the Bones

1. Create an ATST detail component as shown in the figure below or open the file:
ATST2D_START.RFA

27
2. Add reference lines where all the rigid links would occur as shown in the figure
below.

28
3. Select each detail component filled region and element and click edit work
plane as shown in the figure.
4. Then select the reference line that
the element is associated with. This
will now allow for the element (filled
region) to move relative to the
reference line.

29
PART 2

Building Rotation Rigs

1. Open up ATST2D_MID.RFA or continue your model from part 1. Select each
reference line in the order shown and host them onto each other in the order of
the number shown in the figure below. This will allow for reference plane 2 to
move relative to reference line 1 and reference line 3 to move relative to
reference line 2; which will move relative to 1 and so on.

30
 2. Set angles between each reference line. Select reference line 1 and watch
the whole detail component joints move together as shown in the figure below!
If you are not finished simply open up ATST2D_FINAL.RFA and you will be
caught up!

31
 Introduction: Cable Movements
In this example we will show how to create a cable with realistic movement and attach
it to an existing Davit model. The existing Davit model was created in the adaptive
component environment and is shown b e l o w .

32
Davit Cable Creation and
Movement

1. First Open EX_04_DAVIT_MID.RFA

2. To add a cable, first place a reference point anywhere in the family as shown
below.

33
3. Select the new placed node and the node in the slider cradle as shown in the
figure below and click "spline thru points." This will create the cable. Next we
need to place the cable in the correct location.

4. Draw a circle as a surface that is hosted on the end point of the davit and the
radius is the max travel radius of the cable.

34
5. Host the end point of the cable onto the circle as shown in the image below.
You now have realistic cable movement. You are able to "extend" or "retract"
the cable as needed. This method could also be used on cranes or any
equipment that uses cables.

Note: If you want to "flex" and move the cable in the project environment, simply
create a surface as shown in step 3 using an in-place mass then make the end
point of the cable "adaptive." Load the family into the project and host the adaptive
point to the circular surface. Now you could move the cable in the project
environment!
35
Introduction: Ball Joint
Movements

In this example we will show how to create realistic ball joint movement by using
the Revit cows head movement as an example. The existing Revit cow model was
created as a mass family shown in the figure below.

36
Ball Joint Rotation using the
Revit Cow
1. Open file EX_05_COW_ROTATION.RFA. It should look like the figure below

2. Change to 3D view and wire frame mode

37
3. Select the curve and the reference line to and click create for to make a sphere
as shown in the figure below

4. Select the point at the end of the line and select "pick new host" and host it to
the sphere as shown in the image below.

38
5. Select the hosted point and roll it around the surface! That’s joint rotation in
Revit. Link those to other ball joints or other planar (ride the rail) joints and you
have an amazing IK system! Good luck

39
Introduction: 2D - Out of Plane
Movement
In this example we will show how to create realistic out of plane movement from
a 2D component by using the 2D component from the previous example. The
existing 2D ATST component model was created as a 2D detail component
family and is shown in the figure below.

40
Out of Plane Movement from a
2D detail component (ATST)
1. Open file "EX_06_ATST2D_OUT_OF_PLANE_START3D.RFA" it is the 3D
version of the ATST as shown in the image below

41
2. Change the view to a elevation view and rotate the head at 10 degree
increments, each time save the view as a 2D dwg and repeat this for
0,10,20,30,40, and 50 degree head rotations.
3. Open up a new 2D detail component family and load in all of the dwg files you
exported in the previous step. Change each of the loaded dwg files visibility to
parameters as shown. The family should look like the image below.

42
4. Create equations and a dimensional parameter in each parameter as shown in
the figure below.

5. Load the family into a project.

6. Select the family and move the "pull handle" and you are done! Now you have
3D out of plane movement in a 2D detail component. If you are not finished
simply open up file "EX_06_ATST2D_OUT_OF_PLANE_FINAL.RFA" and flex
the rotations and you will be caught up!
7. I hope you had fun in this lab with rotation. Good l u c k !

43
CS1061

Dynamo for Contractors:

Practical Applications with
Dynamo for Revit
MARCELLO SGAMBELLURI
JOHN MARTIN & ASSOCIATES

Learning Objectives
Learn to program in Dynamo to extract data from Revit models for construction
applications
Learn to program in Dynamo to modify Revit models for construction
Learn to program in Dynamo to create automated workflows within Revit for contractors
Learn to read and write Revit model data to E x c e l

1
Description
Extracting data from Revit software and changing existing data within Revit models is exactly
what contractors need, and Dynamo software is perfect for these types of jobs. For example, if
you want to determine the bottom and side areas of a r amp for form-work calculations, it’s easy
to do in Dynamo software. Do you want to split up floor slabs based on pour joints? Or perhaps
you need to export all those adaptive component points out to Microsoft Excel? Well, you can also
do those tasks with Dynamo software. Take this class and you’ll learn how to create Dynamo
software graphs to perform these and many other practical tasks that are perfect for your office.
Design professionals are also welcome to attend this class. Dynamo software experience is not
required but Revit software experience is required.

2
 OUTLINE
INTRODUCTION
Introduction to Dynamo ................................................................................................................................... 5
EXERCISES
Get the Area of a Ramp ..................................................................................................................................... 8
Fireproofing ....................................................................................................................................................... 9
DWG to Grids and Col ...................................................................................................................................... 11
BREAK FLOOR SLABS IN REVIT AT MODEL LINE LOCATIONS ........................................................................... 12
Get the Start and End Points of the BOTTOM of MEP Pipe System Families in Revit ..................................... 13
MEP Follow Topo
APPENDIX
Excel Input TOPO Retaining Wall..................................................................................................................... 16
Aligning True North with Revit ....................................................................................................................... 38
Using the Revit "Repeater" Command ............................................................................................................ 39
Get a Center-line of a Structural Column ........................................................................................................ 41
Create grids in Revit using DynamoBIM .......................................................................................................... 42
Create levels in Revit using DynamoBIM ......................................................................................................... 43
Add fillets to a series of separate lines in DynamoBIM .................................................................................. 47
Scale Any DynamoBIM Geometry ................................................................................................................... 49
Get the Worksharing Status of a Revit File...................................................................................................... 51
Create a list or nested list in DynamoBIM Using Design Script ...................................................................... 56
Get the Revit Version and Build Number ........................................................................................................ 58
How to Use IF Statements in DynamoBIM ...................................................................................................... 61
What a Selected Element looks like in Dynamo ............................................................................................. 62
Extract an item from a list in DynamoBIM ...................................................................................................... 66
Ranged Expressions using Design Script in DynamoBIM ................................................................................ 68
Set a Type parameter in a loadable family ..................................................................................................... 70
Setting Pilaster Height Equal to Grade Beam Depth ...................................................................................... 72
Select all Loadable Revit Family Instances Using DynamoBIM?..................................................................... 74
The real Category Names in DynamoBIM? ... It Depends.... .......................................................................... 76
Confused by Revit Family Selection Node Names in Dynamo?....................................................................... 78

3
About The Speaker

Marcello is the BIM Director at John A.

Martin & Associates Structural
Engineers in Los Angeles, CA. He has
been using Autodesk products for over
15 years including AutoCAD, 3ds Max,
and Revit. Marcello is heavily devoted to
helping advance the use and knowledge
of BIM solutions within the AEC
community. He is well known for
modeling elements and creating
workflows that others have thought not
possible. He also frequently presents at
Autodesk University and at The Revit
Technology Conference where he has been voted the top rated speaker three
years in a row at both conferences. He has worked on many well-known projects in
the past including the Walt Disney Concert Hall in Los Angeles, CA, the Stata
Center at MIT, and the Tom Bradley International Terminal Expansion at LAX.
Marcello received B.S. and M.S. degrees in Civil Engineering and is a licensed
Civil and Structural Engineer.
Read more of Marcello's work at Simply
Complex, a blog dedicated to modeling
and documenting complex geometry in
the AEC industry using Autodesk
products. You can also email Marcello (
[email protected]) or follow him
on Twitter.

4
 Introduction to Dynamo
This is a very difficult question to answer simply because Dynamo does SO much.
Below is my answer to this question and I hope it clarifies it for some of you.

Dynamo is a free program from Autodesk

that uses visual programming. Dynamo
primarily does two tasks:
1. Creates its own geometry with parametric r e l a t i o n s h i p s .
2. Reads and writes to and from external d a t a b a s e s .

Since Dynamo creates its own geometry and reads and writes to external databases
it is a perfect fit to interact with Revit because....isn’t Revit simply a database with
parametric geometry? Dynamo is a stand-alone program but it could be used as an
"add-on" to Revit.
Dynamo reads and writes back data to and from the Revit database via the Revit
API. The data could be just about anything, parameter values, family geometry,
and family placement.
Basically Dynamo manipulates the Revit database in ways that the UI (user
interface) could not. For example in Dynamo you could set the base of all the walls
and all the columns to the same elevation. This means that you could set
parameters from different families equal to each other. Would that be helpful?

Dynamo also provides a direct relationship between its OWN geometry and Revit.
For example in Dynamo you could model a cone and a plane, find the intersection
of those elements (results in a curve) and then assign a Structural Revit Beam IN
REVIT to that Dynamo curve and they would be forever "linked" meaning if the
dynamo curve changed location then the Revit Beam would change location as
well. All the while the original cone, plane, and curve would REMAIN in the dynamo

5
program while the Structural Beam would remain in Revit. The applications for
Dynamo and Revit are endless.

Every Revit User Gets to Touch the

API
Any Revit user could learn Dynamo (
since it uses visual programming it is
very simple to learn) they could
access the Revit api and perform
simple tasks that only could have
previously been performed with
writing an add-on or writing a macro
with .net language for Revit. Oh and
don't forget that Dynamo is
completely free and is updated
constantly.

Dynamo is ever evolving so now is

the time to download load it and learn
it. Why wait its free! By the way
Dynamo could also be used to create
a grasshopper and a Corinthian
column as shown in the figures below
.

6
I am happy to say that Dynamo
basically allows users to use the
Revit API thru visual programming
using “nodes” and “wires” instead of
text. This means that any Revit user
could use the API and create custom
simple routines without having to
know .net language or without having
to hire an outside API consultant.

Installing or
Updating
DynamoBIM
DynamoBIM is a free open source program that also acts as an addin for Revit.
Are you worried about addins to Revit? Since DynamoBIM's development is
supported by Autodesk the download and install is seamless with Revit.If you
needed to install it or need anyone else to install it. Go to DynamoBIM.org click
download and install it. Click finish and that’s it!

Click on the Dynamo button and it will open a separate window that is the
Dynamo interface. It’s best to use dual monitors when using D y n a m o .

7
Get the Area of a Ramp

8
Fireproofing
Wide Flange Columns
To add fireproofing just add the nodes below to any Revit project that has "W"
column sections contained within it.

9
Pipe Columns
To add fireproofing just add the nodes below to any Revit project that has "pipe"
column sections contained within it.

10
DWG to Grids and Col

11
BREAK FLOOR SLABS IN
REVIT AT MODEL LINE
LOCATIONS
To create a dynamo graph that will split slabs up using model line locations that
simulates slab pour locations add the nodes shown in the graph below. Select the
slab and the floor type and it will split up the slabs!

12
Get the Start and End Points of
the BOTTOM of MEP Pipe
System Families in Revit
If you want to get the start and end points of the bottom of MEP Pipe system families
in Revit simply add the nodes shown in the image b e l o w .

13
Make MEP Pipe System Families
follow Topo in Revit
add the nodes shown in the image b e l o w .

14
 Dynamo for Dummies:
An Intro to Dynamo and How It Interacts with Revit

Marcello Sgambelluri – BIM Director - John A. Martin & Associates

AB7878-L, AB6545-L & AB8258-L

Have you ever heard of the Dynamo visual programming language extension in Revit software and
wanted to know what it was all about? The Dynamo extension is not just for tower twisters and super-
advanced programmers—the Dynamo extension is for every Revit user. The Dynamo extension uses a
visual programming language, but it is an easy language to understand. In this lab attendees will get very
gradual doses of the Dynamo extension and its programming environment so they gain the skills to make
the Dynamo extension work in their everyday workflows with Revit software. No programming experience
or complex modeling experience needed to attend this lab. You only need a little Revit experience.

Learning Objectives
At the end of this class, you will be able to:

 Learn the answer to the question: What is the Dynamo extension?

 Learn how to program using visual programming
 Learn practical uses of dynamo
 Learn how to use the Dynamo extension in your everyday Revit software workflows
 Dynamo for Dummies: An Intro to Dynamo and How it Interacts with Revit

About the Speaker

Marcello Sgambelluri is the Building Information Modeling (BIM) director at John A. Martin &
Associates, Inc., in Los Angeles, California. Marcello is heavily devoted to helping advance the
use and knowledge of BIM Solutions within the architecture, engineering, and construction
community. He is well known for modeling elements and creating workflows that others did
think not possible. He also frequently presents at Autodesk University, where attendees voted
him the top-rated speaker for 2 years in a row. He has worked on many well-known projects in
the past, including the Walt Disney Concert Hall in Los Angeles, California; the Ray and Maria
Stata Center at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology; and the Tom Bradley International
Terminal Expansion at Los Angeles International Airport. Marcello received BS and MS
degrees in civil engineering, and he is a licensed civil and structural engineer.

Twitter: @marcellosgamb

Blogs: www.therevitcomplex.blogspot.com

www.simplydynamo.blogspot.com

Email: [email protected]

2
 Dynamo for Dummies: An Intro to Dynamo and How it Interacts with Revit

Contents

INTRODUCTION ..................................................................................................................................... 4

What is Dynamo? ............................................................................................................................................... 4

What version is this? That’s so yesterday’s Build. ............................................................................................... 6

Every Revit User gets to touch the API ................................................................................................................ 7

Downloading and Installing Dynamo is Easy! ...................................................................................................... 8

Dynamo Basics and the interface.......................................................................................................................10

GETTING AND SETTING PARAMETERS ........................................................................................ 12

Using Single Selection (Select Model Element Node) .........................................................................................13

Using Multi Selection (Select Model Elements Node) .........................................................................................20

SELECTION OF ELEMENTS USING DYNAMO................................................................................ 22

Using Selection By Category ..............................................................................................................................22

Using Selection By Family Type Selection...........................................................................................................23

Using Selection By Element Type .......................................................................................................................24

Using Selection By Category Revisited ...............................................................................................................25

Confusing Selection node names .......................................................................................................................26

EXTRACTING ADAPTIVE COMPONENT POINTS ........................................................................ 27

EXCEL INPUT TOPO RETAINING WALL ........................................................................................ 31

Get the data from Excel.....................................................................................................................................32

Change data to make points and create topo in Revit ........................................................................................32

Making changes to the topo ..............................................................................................................................33

DESIGN SCRIPTING AND THE REVIT COW .................................................................................. 34

3
 Dynamo for Dummies: An Intro to Dynamo and How it Interacts with Revit

Introduction

What is Dynamo?
This is a very difficult question to answer simply because Dynamo does SO much. Below is my
answer to this question and I hope it clarifies it for some of you.

Dynamo is a free program from Autodesk that uses visual programming. Dynamo
primarily does two tasks.

1. Creates its own geometry with parametric relationships.

2. Reads and writes to and from external databases.

Since Dynamo creates its own geometry and reads and writes to external databases it is a
perfect fit to interact with Revit because....isn’t Revit simply a database with parametric
geometry? Dynamo is a stand-alone program but it could be used as an "add-on" to Revit. This
is summarized in the Figure below.

Dynamo reads and writes back data to and from the Revit database via the Revit API. The data
could be just about anything, parameter values, family geometry, and family placement.

4
 Dynamo for Dummies: An Intro to Dynamo and How it Interacts with Revit

Basically Dynamo manipulates the Revit database in ways that the UI (user interface) could not.
For example in Dynamo you could set the base of all the walls and all the columns to the same
elevation. This means that you could set parameters from different families equal to each other.
Would that be helpful?

Dynamo also provides a direct relationship between its OWN geometry and Revit. For example
in Dynamo you could model a cone and a plane, find the intersection of those elements (results
in a curve) and then assign a Structural Revit Beam IN REVIT to that Dynamo curve and they
would be forever "linked" meaning if the dynamo curve changed location then the Revit Beam
would change location as well. All the while the original cone, plane, and curve would REMAIN
in the dynamo program while the Structural Beam would remain in Revit. The applications for
Dynamo and Revit are endless.

Just about any Revit user could learn Dynamo (since it uses visual programming it is very
simple to learn) they could access the Revit api and perform simple tasks that only could have
previously been performed with writing an add-on or writing a macro with .net language for
Revit. Oh and don't forget that Dynamo is completely free and is updated constantly. If you need
the latest build or more information visit www.dynamoBIM.org and get started.

Dynamo is ever evolving so now is the time to download it and learn it. Why wait its free! By the
way Dynamo could also be used to create an Elephant in Revit as shown in the figure below.

5
 Dynamo for Dummies: An Intro to Dynamo and How it Interacts with Revit

What version is this? That’s so yesterday’s Build.

Dynamo is developing so fast that is has daily builds. That means that a new version is released
on a daily basis. Of course most of it is untested so there are “stable” builds that are released
about every 2 months or so. The latest version of Dynamo (version .74) had the backend code
rewritten to include and incorporate Design Script methodology.

Design Script is the easiest text programing language to learn for the non-programmer. I know
because I learned it! Basically Dynamo merged Design Script Studio (which was also a visual
programming environment) Design Script basically allows Dynamo functionality to be done
using simple text driven programming. If you want more information on Design Script visit the
following link http://designscript.ning.com/.

6
 Dynamo for Dummies: An Intro to Dynamo and How it Interacts with Revit

Every Revit User gets to touch the API

Let’s face it the Revit API is a very difficult thing to utilize. For the most part you need to be an
Autodesk developer or an experienced .net programmer to use the API and write programs. The
API was developed for developers by developers and therefore it could be a very confusing
thing to understand let alone try to use for many Revit users.

I am happy to say that Dynamo basically allows users to use the Revit API thru visual
programming using “nodes” and “wires” instead of text. This means that any Revit user could
use the API and create custom simple routines without having to know .net language or without
having to hire an outside API consultant.

7
 Dynamo for Dummies: An Intro to Dynamo and How it Interacts with Revit

Downloading and Installing Dynamo is Easy!

Visit www.dynamobim.org and to download the latest build of Dynamo version .7x as shown in
the figure below.

When you download the latest version of Dynamo simply click to install it as shown in the Figure
below.

8
 Dynamo for Dummies: An Intro to Dynamo and How it Interacts with Revit

It will then show up under your “add-in” tab in Revit as shown in the Figure below.

Click on the Dynamo button and it will open a separate window that is the Dynamo interface. It’s
best to use dual monitors when using Dynamo.

9
 Dynamo for Dummies: An Intro to Dynamo and How it Interacts with Revit

Dynamo Basics and the interface.

Nodes are the boxes you place and connect together with Wires to form a program. Nodes can
represent any Function of the API as shown in the Figure below.

Wires connect between Nodes to pass information between nodes. Wires only flow in one
direction.

Wires connect the output Port from one Node to the input Port of another node. To create a wire
simply use the mouse and left click hold and drag from one port to another port. Wires are
dashed while being dragged and then turn solid when connected. You could also pull the wire
away to disconnect it from the port.

Information flows through the Ports from left to right.

10
 Dynamo for Dummies: An Intro to Dynamo and How it Interacts with Revit

The Dynamo “canvas” is shown in the Figure below. The Pull-down Menu is used to open and
save dynamo files, to copy and paste operations, change settings and also access the
“Package Manager” The Package Manager allows Dynamo users to create custom Dynamo
nodes using either Python Scripting or Nesting other nodes into each other and then posting
them as a “Package” so other Dynamo users could use them. Yes that’s right if you want to you
could become a Dynamo developer and share your custom content!

The Node Library is similar to the view and browser in Revit where it shows all the available
nodes to be used. The Dynamo Canvas is the main “workspace” environment for creation of all
Dynamo visual programming. The Execution Bar runs or executes the current workspace. What
is unique to programming in Dynamo is the ability to run the program in “real time” and if you
want to do that simply click the “Run Automatically" box.

11
 Dynamo for Dummies: An Intro to Dynamo and How it Interacts with Revit

Getting and Setting Parameters

12
 Dynamo for Dummies: An Intro to Dynamo and How it Interacts with Revit

Using Single Selection (Select Model Element Node)

1. Open the “01_interface_single_Multi_select_START.rvt” file and Add the Select Model

Element node to a new dynamo def and select the wall as shown in the Figure below,
this will select the wall in Dynamo

Note:
Notice “Element : 1324093” in the node, that is the id of the wall element.
It is the same as the wall id shown in Revit. Unlike Revit where elements that are selected they
turn blue, in Dynamo when elements are selected they show their element Id numbers.

13
 Dynamo for Dummies: An Intro to Dynamo and How it Interacts with Revit

2. Add the Element.GetParameterValueByName node and connect the Select Model

Element node to the element input port as shown

3. Add the String Node and type in “Base Offset” as shown

14
 Dynamo for Dummies: An Intro to Dynamo and How it Interacts with Revit

4. click run and click on the watch button to see the value of the Base Offset parameter

5. Add the Select Model Element node and select the column as shown, this will select
the column in Dynamo
Note:
Notice “Element : 639952” in the node, that is the id of the column element.
It is the same as the wall id shown in Revit. Unlike Revit where elements that are selected they
turn blue, in Dynamo when elements are selected they show their element Id numbers.

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 Dynamo for Dummies: An Intro to Dynamo and How it Interacts with Revit

6. Add the Element.SetParameterValueByName node and connect the Select Model

Element node to the element input port as shown

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 Dynamo for Dummies: An Intro to Dynamo and How it Interacts with Revit

7. Since there is already a String Node with the text “Base Offset” there is no need to add
another one simply connect that node with the parameterName input node as shown

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 Dynamo for Dummies: An Intro to Dynamo and How it Interacts with Revit

8. Connect the Element.GetParameterValueByName node to the value input parameter

since you want to make those parameters equal as shown

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 Dynamo for Dummies: An Intro to Dynamo and How it Interacts with Revit

9. click run and watch Revit update make the bottom of the column equal to the eleveation
of the bottom of the wall!
What makes this so amazing is now you have the tools to set any parameter value of
any family that Dynamo is able to “see” to any Parameter in any other family.
In this case it was a wall, which is a system family, to a column family…amazing. This
was only able to be done using the Revit API, c# or Vb code and a coding expert. Using
Dynamo this could be accomplished by anyone with NO coding background and with
only 5 NODES! Again, its amazing!
Congratulation’s if you did this and it was your first time using Dynamo you are not
officially a Visual Programmer with Dynamo. Now go and get it on your Resume!

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 Dynamo for Dummies: An Intro to Dynamo and How it Interacts with Revit

Using Multi Selection (Select Model Elements Node)

1. Add the Element.GetParameterValueByName node and connect the Select Model

Element node to the element input port as shown

2. Add the String Node and type in “Base Offset” as shown

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 Dynamo for Dummies: An Intro to Dynamo and How it Interacts with Revit

3. click run and click on the watch button to see the value of the Base Offset parameter

4. Add the following nodes to set the parameter of the column and click run. Note that the
column is in line with the wall.

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 Dynamo for Dummies: An Intro to Dynamo and How it Interacts with Revit

Selection of Elements using Dynamo

Using Selection By Category
1. Add the nodes shown below this exercise matches what was done in the previous
example except instead of manually selecting the columns and wall we are using the
“selection” tools in Revit.
2. Click run and watch the columns line up with the walls!

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 Dynamo for Dummies: An Intro to Dynamo and How it Interacts with Revit

Using Selection By Family Type Selection

1. Add the nodes shown below this exercise matches what was done in the previous
example except now the family types are used as selection..
2. Click run and watch the columns line up with the walls!

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 Dynamo for Dummies: An Intro to Dynamo and How it Interacts with Revit

Using Selection By Element Type

1. Add the nodes shown below this exercise matches what was done in the previous
example except now the element types are used as selection..
2. Click run and watch the columns line up with the walls!

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 Dynamo for Dummies: An Intro to Dynamo and How it Interacts with Revit

Using Selection By Category Revisited

1. Add the nodes shown below this exercise matches what was done in the previous
example except now the categories are used as selection. Note that category selection
should be used when you want to select more than one type of family type.

2. Click run and watch the columns line up with the walls as shown.

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 Dynamo for Dummies: An Intro to Dynamo and How it Interacts with Revit

Confusing Selection node names

The names of the selection nodes are confusing. To help everyone understand I made
suggested names for the nodes as shown in the image below. If you need further explanation
you could visit this link https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dfCiy0Ov1UI of a video I recorded to
help explain it further.

Current Node Name What they Represent

Family Types Place able Family Types
Element Types System Family Categories
All Elements of Family Type All Instances of Family Type
All Elements of Type All Instances of System Family Category
All Elements of Category All Instances of Category

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 Dynamo for Dummies: An Intro to Dynamo and How it Interacts with Revit

Extracting Adaptive Component Points

Extracting adaptive component points is easy. There are many reasons why you would want
this information because schedules do not extract this information for you.

We will use the example of a roof Cricket however if you need the X,Y,Z of any adaptive point
just follow these same procedures.

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 Dynamo for Dummies: An Intro to Dynamo and How it Interacts with Revit

See the roof cricket in the image below on the roof as well as the roof cricket highlighted.

This roof cricket adaptive component family is made up of 4 points. I have to give credit to Brian
Mackey laying the ground work to inspire me to create crickets out of adaptive components. I
will not go into how to create them in this presentation. If you want more information on how to
create them visit his website at bdmackey.com.

There are times when you need to extract the point locations of these adaptive points. You don’t
have to create an API to do it. Simply use dynamo.

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 Dynamo for Dummies: An Intro to Dynamo and How it Interacts with Revit

1. Open the Revit Model “CRICKET_ROOF_START.rvt”

2. Place the following nodes to select all the instances of the roof crickets as shown below
3. Add the AdaptiveComponent.Locations Node and connect to the element port and
click run as shown. That’s it. You have it now…. Now what?

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 Dynamo for Dummies: An Intro to Dynamo and How it Interacts with Revit

4. You could write it to an excel file or you could write it back to the parameters. For
simplicity let’s just write the values to excel
5. Add the following nodes as shown

6. And the excel file will be created with the values!

7. Also if you want the xyz of any location just add an AC point on it and follow the previous
steps!

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 Dynamo for Dummies: An Intro to Dynamo and How it Interacts with Revit

Excel Input TOPO Retaining Wall

In this exercise we will be getting x,y,z data from an excel spread sheet that will create a topo
surface around a previously modeled retaining wall. We will also move the soil via the
spreadsheet. We will be creating the topo around the retaining wall shown below.

The excel data to be used is shown below that contains coordinates of the final topo in x,y,z
coordinates.

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 Dynamo for Dummies: An Intro to Dynamo and How it Interacts with Revit

Get the data from Excel

1. Open up a new dynamo canvas and place the following path nodes as shown below
2. This will extract the data from the spreadsheet. Notice that more cells a read than there
are data but that will be fixed in the next set of nodes.

Change data to make points and create topo in Revit

1. Since the data was not in the correct format you need to extract each sublist for x,y and
z respectively.
2. Simply add the ListGetItemAtIndex Nodes three times one for each coordinate and
connect it to a Point.ByCoordinate this will create points as shown.
3. Connect the Topography.ByPoints Node and click run. Wow Topo!

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 Dynamo for Dummies: An Intro to Dynamo and How it Interacts with Revit

Making changes to the topo

1. It is so easy to make changes to the topo now using dynamo
2. If the arch wanted to change the height of the soil on one side of the retaining wall but
could not make up their minds. Let them change the value in the spreadsheet and have
them save it to the same directory. Revit will see the changes and update automatically.
3. To do this simply click on the “Run Automatically” button then add a cell that changes
the ht of once side of the points. In this case it is the z coordinates from point 0 to 63.

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 Dynamo for Dummies: An Intro to Dynamo and How it Interacts with Revit

Design Scripting and The Revit Cow

In this exercise we will model a simple mass building in the mass family environment using
traditional dynamo nodes then replace some of them with design scripts. Then we will create the
Revit Cow from scratch using design script.

Design Script is the easiest text programing language to learn for the non-programmer. I know
because I learned it! Basically Dynamo merged Design Script Studio (which was also a visual
programming environment) Design Script basically allows Dynamo functionality to be done
using simple text driven programming. If you want more information on Design Script visit the
following link http://designscript.ning.com/.

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 Dynamo for Dummies: An Intro to Dynamo and How it Interacts with Revit

1. Open a blank mass family and open a new dynamo def and place the following nodes
shown below. This will create 4 reference points in dynamo and in the mass family.

2. Draw reference lines between the points IN REVIT and select them and create a box
that represents your building envelope as shown below.

NOTE: only the nodes are controlled by dynamo nothing else.

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 Dynamo for Dummies: An Intro to Dynamo and How it Interacts with Revit

3. Now you are able to scale these by just scaling the nodes adjust the scale amount that
you added in step 1 and watch the mass building scale.

4. Now replace the point nodes and the list nodes with the following design script data
shown below and it does the same thing as the previous step. Design script helps
consolidate. Also design script has other functions that we will not discuss in this lab. If
you want to learn all the wonderful features and commands look at this website
http://designscript.ning.com/.

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 Dynamo for Dummies: An Intro to Dynamo and How it Interacts with Revit

5. Open a blank project and a blank AC or mass family and a blank Dynamo def (change
the render to high). Find the Cow.txt file and copy and paste all the text. Double click on
the blank canvas and paste in the design script. Behold! The Cow defined with design
scripting using only one node! The results should look like the figure above.

If you want to take the Cow into Revit and scale it follow the next steps.

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 Dynamo for Dummies: An Intro to Dynamo and How it Interacts with Revit

6. The cow is great in dynamo but we need it in revit. How do you do that?
7. Open the Cow start dynamo def. Add the following nodes. These define the curves and
surfaces in Revit.

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 Dynamo for Dummies: An Intro to Dynamo and How it Interacts with Revit

8. Click run and ½ of the cow should be built in Revit as shown above.

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 Dynamo for Dummies: An Intro to Dynamo and How it Interacts with Revit

9. Add scale nodes between the model curve nodes and scale to a value of 5. Scaling is
soooo easy now! Thanks dynamo.

10. Turn on the labels and results are shown above.

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 Dynamo for Dummies: An Intro to Dynamo and How it Interacts with Revit

11. The final scale is shown above.!

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 Practically Dynamo:
Practical Uses for Dynamo within Revit

Marcello Sgambelluri – BIM Director - John A. Martin & Associates

AB6557 & AB7977

Have you ever wanted to learn the Dynamo visual programming language extension for Revit software
but you decided to run and hide instead because you thought it was only for super-complex geometry and
twisting towers? It’s not. The Dynamo extension is for every Revit user. This lecture will describe the uses
of the Dynamo extension and explain how it interacts with Revit software to help any Revit user. The
Dynamo extension is a program that uses visual programming, but don't let that scare you. This lecture
will teach attendees how to use the Dynamo extension even if they have no prior programming
experience. Now that the Dynamo extension and Design Script programming language have merged, the
Dynamo extension is even easier to learn and use. This lecture will also give attendees very gradual
doses of the Dynamo extension and visual programming so they leave with the skills to apply the Dynamo
extension to practical Revit software workflows. And don't forget that the Dynamo extension is an add-on
to Revit software.

Learning Objectives
At the end of this class, you will be able to:

 Learn the answer to the question: What is the Dynamo extension?

 Learn how to program using visual programming
 Learn how to create practical uses in the office using the Dynamo extension for Revit software
 Learn to script in the Dynamo extension using DesignScript programming language
 Practically Dynamo: Practical Uses for Dynamo Within Revit

About the Speaker

Marcello Sgambelluri is the Building Information Modeling (BIM) director at John A. Martin &
Associates, Inc., in Los Angeles, California. Marcello is heavily devoted to helping advance the
use and knowledge of BIM Solutions within the architecture, engineering, and construction
community. He is well known for modeling elements and creating workflows that others did
think not possible. He also frequently presents at Autodesk University, where attendees voted
him the top-rated speaker for 2 years in a row. He has worked on many well-known projects in
the past, including the Walt Disney Concert Hall in Los Angeles, California; the Ray and Maria
Stata Center at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology; and the Tom Bradley International
Terminal Expansion at Los Angeles International Airport. Marcello received BS and MS
degrees in civil engineering, and he is a licensed civil and structural engineer.

Twitter: @marcellosgamb

Blogs: www.therevitcomplex.blogspot.com

www.simplydynamo.blogspot.com

Email: [email protected]

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 Practically Dynamo: Practical Uses for Dynamo Within Revit

Contents

INTRODUCTION .....................................................................................................................................5

What is Dynamo? .................................................................................................................................................5

What version is this? That’s so yesterday’s Build. .................................................................................................8

Every Revit User gets to touch the API ..................................................................................................................9

Downloading and Installing Dynamo is Easy! ......................................................................................................10

Dynamo Basics and the interface. .......................................................................................................................12

GETTING AND SETTING PARAMETERS........................................................................................14

Using Single Selection (Select Model Element Node) ..........................................................................................15

Using Multi Selection (Select Model Elements Node)..........................................................................................22

SELECTION OF ELEMENTS USING DYNAMO ...............................................................................24

Using Selection By Category................................................................................................................................24

Using Selection By Family Type Selection............................................................................................................25

Using Selection By Element Type ........................................................................................................................26

Using Selection By Category Revisited ................................................................................................................27

Confusing Selection node names ........................................................................................................................28

PROFILE ORDER ..................................................................................................................................29

Sample and Description ......................................................................................................................................29

Spline Order .......................................................................................................................................................30

CANOPY FRAMING ..............................................................................................................................35

Intersection method (edge beam).......................................................................................................................35

Intersection Method Single Beam at Grid ...........................................................................................................38

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 Practically Dynamo: Practical Uses for Dynamo Within Revit

Intersection Method (Multiple Beams at Grids) ..................................................................................................43

EXTRACTING ADAPTIVE COMPONENT POINTS........................................................................46

ROOM TO FLOOR.................................................................................................................................50

Workflow ...........................................................................................................................................................51

Get the Room Boundaries for the “outline” input port .......................................................................................52
Select all the Rooms................................................................................................................................................52
Extract Solid Room Geometry .................................................................................................................................53
Get Room Boundary Curves ....................................................................................................................................55

Get the Floor Type for the floorType input port ..................................................................................................58

Further modeling and considerations .................................................................................................................61

Thickness Adjustment .............................................................................................................................................61
Multi Level Adjustment: Creating Floors for all levels at once................................................................................62
Multi Level Adjustment: Creating Floors for each level separately ........................................................................62

EXCEL INPUT TOPO RETAINING WALL........................................................................................63

Get the data from Excel ......................................................................................................................................64

Change data to make points and create topo in Revit .........................................................................................64

Making changes to the topo ...............................................................................................................................65

DESIGN SCRIPTING AND THE REVIT COW..................................................................................66

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 Practically Dynamo: Practical Uses for Dynamo Within Revit

Introduction
What is Dynamo?
This is a very difficult question to answer simply because Dynamo does SO much. Below is my
answer to this question and I hope it clarifies it for some of you.

Dynamo is a free program from Autodesk that uses visual programming. Dynamo
primarily does two tasks.

1. Creates its own geometry with parametric relationships.

2. Reads and writes to and from external databases.

Since Dynamo creates its own geometry and reads and writes to external databases it is a
perfect fit to interact with Revit because....isn’t Revit simply a database with parametric
geometry? Dynamo is a stand-alone program but it could be used as an "add-on" to Revit. This
is summarized in the Figure below.

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 Practically Dynamo: Practical Uses for Dynamo Within Revit

Dynamo reads and writes back data to and from the Revit database via the Revit API. The data
could be just about anything, parameter values, family geometry, and family placement.

Basically Dynamo manipulates the Revit database in ways that the UI (user interface) could not.
For example in Dynamo you could set the base of all the walls and all the columns to the same
elevation. This means that you could set parameters from different families equal to each other.
Would that be helpful?

Dynamo also provides a direct relationship between its OWN geometry and Revit. For example
in Dynamo you could model a cone and a plane, find the intersection of those elements (results
in a curve) and then assign a Structural Revit Beam IN REVIT to that Dynamo curve and they
would be forever "linked" meaning if the dynamo curve changed location then the Revit Beam
would change location as well. All the while the original cone, plane, and curve would REMAIN
in the dynamo program while the Structural Beam would remain in Revit. The applications for
Dynamo and Revit are endless.

Just about any Revit user could learn Dynamo (since it uses visual programming it is very
simple to learn) they could access the Revit api and perform simple tasks that only could have
previously been performed with writing an add-on or writing a macro with .net language for
Revit. Oh and don't forget that Dynamo is completely free and is updated constantly. If you need
the latest build or more information visit www.dynamoBIM.org and get started.

Dynamo is ever evolving so now is the time to download load it and learn it. Why wait its free!
By the way Dynamo could also be used to create an Elephant in Revit as shown in the figure
below.

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Practically Dynamo: Practical Uses for Dynamo Within Revit

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 Practically Dynamo: Practical Uses for Dynamo Within Revit

What version is this? That’s so yesterday’s Build.

Dynamo is developing so fast that is has daily builds. That means that a new version is released
on a daily basis. Of course most of it is untested so there are “stable” builds that are released
about every 2 months or so. The latest version of Dynamo (version .74) had the backend code
rewritten to include and incorporate Design Script methodology.

Design Script is the easiest text programing language to learn for the non-programmer. I know
because I learned it! Basically Dynamo merged Design Script Studio (which was also a visual
programming environment) Design Script basically allows Dynamo functionality to be done
using simple text driven programming. If you want more information on Design Script visit the
following link http://designscript.ning.com/.

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 Practically Dynamo: Practical Uses for Dynamo Within Revit

Every Revit User gets to touch the API

Let’s face it the Revit API is a very difficult thing to utilize. For the most part you need to be an
Autodesk developer or an experienced .net programmer to use the API and write programs. The
API was developed for developers by developers and therefore it could be a very confusing
thing to understand let alone try to use for many Revit users.

I am happy to say that Dynamo basically allows users to use the Revit API thru visual
programming using “nodes” and “wires” instead of text. This means that any Revit user could
use the API and create custom simple routines without having to know .net language or without
having to hire an outside API consultant.

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 Practically Dynamo: Practical Uses for Dynamo Within Revit

Downloading and Installing Dynamo is Easy!

Visit www.dynamobim.org and to download the latest build of Dynamo version .7x as shown in
the figure below.

When you download the latest version of Dynamo simply click to install it as shown in the Figure
below.

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 Practically Dynamo: Practical Uses for Dynamo Within Revit

It will then show up under your “add-in” tab in Revit as shown in the Figure below.

Click on the Dynamo button and it will open a separate window that is the Dynamo interface. It’s
best to use dual monitors when using Dynamo.

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 Practically Dynamo: Practical Uses for Dynamo Within Revit

Dynamo Basics and the interface.

Nodes are the boxes you place and connect together with Wires to form a program. Nodes can
represent any Function of the API as shown in the Figure below.

Wires connect between Nodes to pass information between nodes. Wires only flow in one
direction.

Wires connect the output Port from one Node to the input Port of another node. To create a wire
simply use the mouse and left click hold and drag from one port to another port. Wires are
dashed while being dragged and then turn solid when connected. You could also pull the wire
away to disconnect it from the port.

Information flows through the Ports from left to right.

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 Practically Dynamo: Practical Uses for Dynamo Within Revit

The Dynamo “canvas” is shown in the Figure below. The Pull-down Menu is used to open and
save dynamo files, to copy and paste operations, change settings and also access the
“Package Manager” The Package Manager allows Dynamo users to create custom Dynamo
nodes using either Python Scripting or Nesting other nodes into each other and then posting
them as a “Package” so other Dynamo users could use them. Yes that’s right if you want to you
could become a Dynamo developer and share your custom content!

The Node Library is similar to the view and browser in Revit where it shows all the available
nodes to be used. The Dynamo Canvas is the main “workspace” environment for creation of all
Dynamo visual programming. The Execution Bar runs or executes the current workspace. What
is unique to programming in Dynamo is the ability to run the program in “real time” and if you
want to do that simply click the “Run Automatically" box.

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 Practically Dynamo: Practical Uses for Dynamo Within Revit

Getting and Setting Parameters

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 Practically Dynamo: Practical Uses for Dynamo Within Revit

Using Single Selection (Select Model Element Node)

1. Add the Select Model Element node and select the wall as shown in the Figure below,
this will select the wall in Dynamo

Note:
Notice “Element : 1324093” in the node, that is the id of the wall element.
It is the same as the wall id shown in Revit. Unlike Revit where elements that are selected they
turn blue, in Dynamo when elements are selected they show their element Id numbers.

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 Practically Dynamo: Practical Uses for Dynamo Within Revit

2. Add the Element.GetParameterValueByName node and connect the Select Model

Element node to the element input port as shown

3. Add the String Node and type in “Base Offset” as shown

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 Practically Dynamo: Practical Uses for Dynamo Within Revit

4. click run and click on the watch button to see the value of the Base Offset parameter

5. Add the Select Model Element node and select the column as shown, this will select
the column in Dynamo
Note:
Notice “Element : 639952” in the node, that is the id of the column element.
It is the same as the wall id shown in Revit. Unlike Revit where elements that are selected they
turn blue, in Dynamo when elements are selected they show their element Id numbers.

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 Practically Dynamo: Practical Uses for Dynamo Within Revit

6. Add the Element.SetParameterValueByName node and connect the Select Model

Element node to the element input port as shown

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 Practically Dynamo: Practical Uses for Dynamo Within Revit

7. Since there is already a String Node with the text “Base Offset” there is no need to add
another one simply connect that node with the parameterName input node as shown

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 Practically Dynamo: Practical Uses for Dynamo Within Revit

8. Connect the Element.GetParameterValueByName node to the value input parameter

since you want to make those parameters equal as shown

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 Practically Dynamo: Practical Uses for Dynamo Within Revit

9. click run and watch Revit update make the bottom of the column equal to the eleveation
of the bottom of the wall!
What makes this so amazing is now you have the tools to set any parameter value of
any family that Dynamo is able to “see” to any Parameter in any other family.
In this case it was a wall, which is a system family, to a column family…amazing. This
was only able to be done using the Revit API, c# or Vb code and a coding expert. Using
Dynamo this could be accomplished by anyone with NO coding background and with
only 5 NODES! Again, its amazing!
Congratulation’s if you did this and it was your first time using Dynamo you are not
officially a Visual Programmer with Dynamo. Now go and get it on your Resume!

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 Practically Dynamo: Practical Uses for Dynamo Within Revit

Using Multi Selection (Select Model Elements Node)

1. Add the Element.GetParameterValueByName node and connect the Select Model

Element node to the element input port as shown

2. Add the String Node and type in “Base Offset” as shown

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 Practically Dynamo: Practical Uses for Dynamo Within Revit

3. click run and click on the watch button to see the value of the Base Offset parameter

4. Add the following nodes to set the parameter of the column and click run. Note that the
column is in line with the wall.

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 Practically Dynamo: Practical Uses for Dynamo Within Revit

Selection of Elements using Dynamo

Using Selection By Category
1. Add the nodes shown below this exercise matches what was done in the previous
example except instead of manually selecting the columns and wall we are using the
“selection” tools in Revit.
2. Click run and watch the columns line up with the walls!

24
 Practically Dynamo: Practical Uses for Dynamo Within Revit

Using Selection By Family Type Selection

1. Add the nodes shown below this exercise matches what was done in the previous
example except now the family types are used as selection..
2. Click run and watch the columns line up with the walls!

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 Practically Dynamo: Practical Uses for Dynamo Within Revit

Using Selection By Element Type

1. Add the nodes shown below this exercise matches what was done in the previous
example except now the element types are used as selection..
2. Click run and watch the columns line up with the walls!

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 Practically Dynamo: Practical Uses for Dynamo Within Revit

Using Selection By Category Revisited

1. Add the nodes shown below this exercise matches what was done in the previous
example except now the categories are used as selection. Note that category selection
should be used when you want to select more than one type of family type.

2. Click run and watch the columns line up with the walls as shown.

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 Practically Dynamo: Practical Uses for Dynamo Within Revit

Confusing Selection node names

The names of the selection nodes are confusing. To help everyone understand I made
suggested names for the nodes as shown in the image below. If you need further explanation
you could visit this link https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dfCiy0Ov1UI of a video I recorded to
help explain it further.

Current Node Name What they Represent

Family Types Place able Family Types
Element Types System Family Categories
All Elements of Family Type All Instances of Family Type
All Elements of Type All Instances of System Family Category
All Elements of Category All Instances of Category

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 Practically Dynamo: Practical Uses for Dynamo Within Revit

Profile order
Sample and Description
In this exercise you will be modelling the shell of the engine of the Revit 747. The interesting
thing is that you were not ever able to select spline order using the UI but with Dynamo you are
able to! Lets see how this works.

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 Practically Dynamo: Practical Uses for Dynamo Within Revit

Spline Order

1. Open the Supporting File it should look like the figure above note the spline order
numbers.

2. Open Dynamo and change the Render Precision to High as shown in the figure above.
3. Place 3 “Select Model Element” nodes and select each spline

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 Practically Dynamo: Practical Uses for Dynamo Within Revit

4. Click run and you should see 3 splines as shown in the Figure above

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 Practically Dynamo: Practical Uses for Dynamo Within Revit

5. Place a list node and make it 3 long

6. Place a Form by loft cross sections node
7. Place a Boolean node and click true
8. Connect the nodes together as shown in the figure above and click run.
9. You should see the shell of the engine as shown in the figure above

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 Practically Dynamo: Practical Uses for Dynamo Within Revit

Just to have some fun change the wires around so now the spline order is different you
will get results as shown in the figures above

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 Practically Dynamo: Practical Uses for Dynamo Within Revit

If you want to complete the engine then with the UI change the material of the new shell
of the engine to “engine” and the results should be similar to the figure above.

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 Practically Dynamo: Practical Uses for Dynamo Within Revit

Canopy Framing
Intersection method (edge beam)
In this exercise you will be modelling the beams below

1. Open the Supporting File it should look like the figure above.

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 Practically Dynamo: Practical Uses for Dynamo Within Revit

2.

3.

4.

5.

2. Add this node

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 Practically Dynamo: Practical Uses for Dynamo Within Revit

3. Add These nodes shown above

4. The final result should look like the figure above.

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 Practically Dynamo: Practical Uses for Dynamo Within Revit

Intersection Method Single Beam at Grid

In this exercise you will be modelling a single beam at grid

1. Open the Supporting File it should look like the figure above

2. These nodes shown above

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 Practically Dynamo: Practical Uses for Dynamo Within Revit

3. Open add These nodes shown above

4. Pick these elements shown above

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 Practically Dynamo: Practical Uses for Dynamo Within Revit

5. The final result should look like the figure above.

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 Practically Dynamo: Practical Uses for Dynamo Within Revit

6. Move grid C and see what happens! The final result should look like the figure above

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 Practically Dynamo: Practical Uses for Dynamo Within Revit

7. Rotate grid C and see what happens! The final result should look like the figure above

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 Practically Dynamo: Practical Uses for Dynamo Within Revit

Intersection Method (Multiple Beams at Grids)

In this exercise you will be modelling multiple beams at the grids.

8. Open the Supporting File it should look like the figure above.

9. Add nodes as shown and click run notice this time you are using a “select model
elements” not element. This creates a list of elements that you select.

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 Practically Dynamo: Practical Uses for Dynamo Within Revit

10. Add nodes as shown and click run. Notice beams were created at all selected Grids?!

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 Practically Dynamo: Practical Uses for Dynamo Within Revit

What is a vector?

A point can be used as a vector representation although instead of saying x,y,z its
commonly referred to as ai, bj, ck where a, b, and c are scalar values and i, j, and k are the
components of the vectors magnitude as shown in the figure above. A point has a location
but also can define a direction and a plane. If you just construct a vector with 0,0,1 it will be
considered a unit vector pointing up in Z axis. The unit vector pointing to the x axis is 1,0,0
and a unit vector pointing to the positive y axis is 0,1,0. Vectors are commonly refered to as
I,j,k while coordinates are referred to as x,y,z. I like to think about vectors as the “local axis”
of the element that is requiring a vector to be specified.

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 Practically Dynamo: Practical Uses for Dynamo Within Revit

Extracting Adaptive Component Points

Extracting adaptive component points is easy. There are many reasons why you would want
this information because schedules do not extract this information for you.

We will use the example of a roof Cricket however if you need the X,Y,Z of any adaptive point
just follow these same procedures.

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 Practically Dynamo: Practical Uses for Dynamo Within Revit

See the roof cricket in the image below on the roof as well as the roof cricket highlighted.

This roof cricket adaptive component family is made up of 4 points. I have to give credit to Brian
Mackey laying the ground work to inspire me to create crickets out of adaptive components. I
will not go into how to create them in this presentation. If you want more information on how to
create them visit his website at bdmackey.com.

There are times when you need to extract the point locations of these adaptive points. You don’t
have to create an API to do it. Simply use dynamo.

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 Practically Dynamo: Practical Uses for Dynamo Within Revit

1. Open the Revit Model “CRICKET_ROOF_START.rvt”

2. Place the following nodes to select all the instances of the roof crickets as shown below
3. Add the AdaptiveComponent.Locations Node and connect to the element port and
click run as shown. That’s it. You have it now…. Now what?

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 Practically Dynamo: Practical Uses for Dynamo Within Revit

4. You could write it to an excel file or you could write it back to the parameters. For
simplicity let’s just write the values to excel
5. Add the following nodes as shown

6. And the excel file will be created with the values!

7. Also if you want the xyz of any location just add an AC point on it and follow the previous
steps!

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 Practically Dynamo: Practical Uses for Dynamo Within Revit

Room to Floor
Below is the building this example will be using to add finish floor slabs in rooms.

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 Practically Dynamo: Practical Uses for Dynamo Within Revit

Workflow

Always work backwards in Dynamo. If you know what you want this will help you determine
what you need to fill the INPUT NODES on the left of the final node. In this case we need to
create a floor element that matches the boundaries of the rooms. Therefore Place down the
Floor.ByOutlineTypeAndLevel Node as shown. It must be the node that shows
“outlineCurves” in the input port otherwise the node is asking for polycurves and in this case we
are only extracting perimeter curves. Also make sure your columns are not bound by room, if so
turn that option off in the properties box.
Now ask yourself the following questions:
1. Question: What do I connect into the “outline” input port? Answer: The room
boundaries (so let’s get those in the following section)
2. Question: What do I connect into the “floorType” input port? Answer: The floor types
that you want to be the floor finishes and they should match the thickness and material
3. Question: What do I connect into the “level” input port? Answer: The level (that part is
easy)

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 Practically Dynamo: Practical Uses for Dynamo Within Revit

Get the Room Boundaries for the “outline” input port

Select all the Rooms
1. Open the sample project shown in the previous page.
2. Start a new dynamo definition
3. Add the Categories Node and Change it to “Rooms”
4. Add the “All Elements of Category” node
5. Add a Watch Node and Wire them together as shown and click Run
a. There should be 33 Rooms selected

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 Practically Dynamo: Practical Uses for Dynamo Within Revit

Extract Solid Room Geometry

1. Add the Element.Geometry Node and connect it as shown

2. Click Run and you will notice that all the rooms have been converted to Solids in
Dynamo

Note: You will want to get to know the Element.Geometry Node well because it is very powerful
when needing to extract geometry info from Revit. If this does not run then place one room, then
run then add the rest. There seems to be a rare bug that a lot of rooms are not able to be
created at the same time

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 Practically Dynamo: Practical Uses for Dynamo Within Revit

3. Click the Geometry button on the bottom right of your canvas as shown to see the
geometry of the rooms. Amazing right!?!!

4. Rotate around using the right mouse buttom to view the geometry the rooms should look
like the image show.

Note: The Revit developers do not allow us to see rooms in 3D in Revit without the aid of
Dynamo. Why?

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 Practically Dynamo: Practical Uses for Dynamo Within Revit

Get Room Boundary Curves

Note: These “geometry” manipulations are now done thru the geometry menu not the Revit
menu. Why? Because its dynamo geometry at the moment.

1. Place the Surface.PerimeterCurves node as shown

Note: What do we feed into the “surface” port? It is the bottom of the Room Solid. How
do we get that? There are many ways but the easiest way is to do an “intersect” of the
room solid with the first floor plane, the result of that intersection is a surface!

2. Add the Geometry.Intersect node as shown.

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 Practically Dynamo: Practical Uses for Dynamo Within Revit

3. Hide the solid room geometry by right clicking on the Element.Gemetry node and
selecting the Preview as shown

4. Add a plane at the ground floor. Since the ground floor is at z=0 then just add the
Plane.XY node and click run. The Plane is shown and the a line normal to the plane
is shown pointing in the z direction so that looks good!

Note: These “geometry” manipulations are now done thru the geometry menu not the
Revit menu. Why? Because its dynamo geometry at the moment.

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 Practically Dynamo: Practical Uses for Dynamo Within Revit

5. Connect the Plane.XY node to the Geometry.Intersect Node entity port and click
run the results are surfaces at the bottom of the solids. Now Connect the
Geometry.Intersect Node output port to the Surface.PermeterCurves node and click
run. Finally! The room boundary curves!!!!!! They are shown highlighted

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 Practically Dynamo: Practical Uses for Dynamo Within Revit

Get the Floor Type for the floorType input port

1. Add the Element.GetParameterValueByName Node as shown and connect the
element of category node to it.
2. Add a string node and type in “Floor Finish” and connect it to the parameterName input
port as shown
3. Add the floor finish names to the rooms make sure they name matches the floor types
exactly as shown

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 Practically Dynamo: Practical Uses for Dynamo Within Revit

4. You are not able to simply connect the floor type name with the floorype input node because
the “floorType” input node requires a “TYPE” that have type id numbers while “stings” not
just dumb text. Luckly the developers created a node to convert a floor type string name to a
floor type id type node. Thefore, simply add a FloorType.ByName Node (from the Revit
Element Floor Create menu) and connect it between the floor and get
Element.GetParameterValueByName Node as shown.

5. Add the List.Flatten Node as shown

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 Practically Dynamo: Practical Uses for Dynamo Within Revit

6. Add the Level node and change it to level 1 or the ground level (the level node is from the
Revit Selection menu
7. Connect up all the wires as shown and click run! Instant Floors as in the image below from
the Revit model. It’s a thing of Beauty!
If it crashes delete all rooms except one, run dynamo then undo revit then rerun dynamo
there is a bug in .74 that prevents more than one room data to be extracted.

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 Practically Dynamo: Practical Uses for Dynamo Within Revit

Further modeling and considerations

Thickness Adjustment
If you noticed that this example only covered how to place the floors at one level and the top of
the floor was not adjusted to the thickness of the floor. The following image shows you what you
need these nodes to the end to adjust for the correct vertical location of the finished floors.

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 Practically Dynamo: Practical Uses for Dynamo Within Revit

Multi Level Adjustment: Creating Floors for all levels at once

Add the following nodes to make the following work for multi Level buildings

Multi Level Adjustment: Creating Floors for each level separately

Is it confusing? Its not too bad just remember that you could always just select the rooms per
level instead of the entire project with multi levels. If you select rooms per level then make sure
you are selecting rooms manually and not by the category node. Also remember that your
intersection plane needs to be at the same level as the level you are selection. Finally make
sure you use the correct level when you input it into your floor creation node. Good luck!

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 Practically Dynamo: Practical Uses for Dynamo Within Revit

Excel Input TOPO Retaining Wall

In this exercise we will be getting x,y,z data from an excel spread sheet that will create a topo
surface around a previously modeled retaining wall. We will also move the soil via the
spreadsheet. We will be creating the topo around the retaining wall shown below.

The excel data to be used is shown below that contains coordinates of the final topo in x,y,z
coordinates.

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 Practically Dynamo: Practical Uses for Dynamo Within Revit

Get the data from Excel

1. Open up a new dynamo canvas and place the following path nodes as shown below
2. This will extract the data from the spreadsheet. Notice that more cells a read than there
are data but that will be fixed in the next set of nodes.

Change data to make points and create topo in Revit

1. Since the data was not in the correct format you need to extract each sublist for x,y and
z respectively.
2. Simply add the ListGetItemAtIndex Nodes three times one for each coordinate and
connect it to a Point.ByCoordinate this will create points as shown.
3. Connect the Topography.ByPoints Node and click run. Wow Topo!

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 Practically Dynamo: Practical Uses for Dynamo Within Revit

Making changes to the topo

1. It is so easy to make changes to the topo now using dynamo
2. If the arch wanted to change the height of the soil on one side of the retaining wall but
could not make up their minds. Let them change the value in the spreadsheet and have
them save it to the same directory. Revit will see the changes and update automatically.
3. To do this simply click on the “Run Automatically” button then add a cell that changes
the ht of once side of the points. In this case it is the z coordinates from point 0 to 63.

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 Practically Dynamo: Practical Uses for Dynamo Within Revit

Design Scripting and The Revit Cow

In this exercise we will model a simple mass building in the mass family environment using
traditional dynamo nodes then replace some of them with design scripts. Then we will create the
Revit Cow from scratch using design script.

Design Script is the easiest text programing language to learn for the non-programmer. I know
because I learned it! Basically Dynamo merged Design Script Studio (which was also a visual
programming environment) Design Script basically allows Dynamo functionality to be done
using simple text driven programming. If you want more information on Design Script visit the
following link http://designscript.ning.com/.

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 Practically Dynamo: Practical Uses for Dynamo Within Revit

1. Open a blank mass family and open a new dynamo def and place the following nodes
shown below. This will create 4 reference points in dynamo and in the mass family.

2. Draw reference lines between the points IN REVIT and select them and create a box
that represents your building envelope as shown below.

NOTE: only the nodes are controlled by dynamo nothing else.

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 Practically Dynamo: Practical Uses for Dynamo Within Revit

3. Now you are able to scale these by just scaling the nodes adjust the scale amount that
you added in step 1 and watch the mass building scale.

4. Now replace the point nodes and the list nodes with the following design script data
shown below and it does the same thing as the previous step. Design script helps
consolidate. Also design script has other functions that we will not discuss in this lab. If
you want to learn all the wonderful features and commands look at this website
http://designscript.ning.com/.

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 Practically Dynamo: Practical Uses for Dynamo Within Revit

5. Open a blank project and a blank AC or mass family and a blank Dynamo def (change
the render to high). Find the Cow.txt file and copy and paste all the text. Double click on
the blank canvas and paste in the design script. Behold! The Cow defined with design
scripting using only one node! The results should look like the figure above.

If you want to take the Cow into Revit and scale it follow the next steps.

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 Practically Dynamo: Practical Uses for Dynamo Within Revit

6. The cow is great in dynamo but we need it in revit. How do you do that?
7. Open the Cow start dynamo def. Add the following nodes. These define the curves and
surfaces in Revit.

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 Practically Dynamo: Practical Uses for Dynamo Within Revit

8. Click run and ½ of the cow should be built in Revit as shown above.

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 Practically Dynamo: Practical Uses for Dynamo Within Revit

9. Add scale nodes between the model curve nodes and scale to a value of 5. Scaling is
soooo easy now! Thanks dynamo.

10. Turn on the labels and results are shown above.

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11. The final scale is shown above.!

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Technically Speaking:
How to prepare and deliver an engaging technical presentation

Marcello Sgambelluri – BIM Director - John A. Martin & Associates

BM6690

Preparing and delivering technical presentation is no easy task. This class will help to eliminate the fear
of presenting a technical presentation, whether it’s for a technical conference or for clients in the
boardroom. You will learn how to effectively prepare for a technical presentation, including how to
research the topic(s) and how to practice. You will also learn how to effectively deliver a technical
presentation by not only delivering sound technical content, but also by reaching out to the audience
members and tapping their emotions so they will be more likely to remember what is said and leave with
a positive attitude.

Learning Objectives
At the end of this class, you will be able to:
 prepare for a technical presentation by effective research
 prepare for a technical presentation through practice
 deliver a technical presentation by expecting the unexpected and preparing a set list
 deliver a memorable technical presentation by reaching out to the hearts and minds of the audience
 Technically Speaking: How to Prepare and Deliver an Engaging Technical Presentation
By Marcello Sgambelluri Autodesk University 2014

About the Speaker

Marcello Sgambelluri is the Building Information Modeling (BIM) director at John A. Martin &
Associates, Inc., in Los Angeles, California. Marcello is heavily devoted to helping advance the
use and knowledge of BIM Solutions within the architecture, engineering, and construction
community. He is well known for modeling elements and creating workflows that others did
think not possible. He also frequently presents at Autodesk University, where attendees voted
him the top-rated speaker for 2 years in a row. He has worked on many well-known projects in
the past, including the Walt Disney Concert Hall in Los Angeles, California; the Ray and Maria
Stata Center at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology; and the Tom Bradley International
Terminal Expansion at Los Angeles International Airport. Marcello received BS and MS
degrees in civil engineering, and he is a licensed civil and structural engineer.

Twitter: @marcellosgamb

Blogs: www.therevitcomplex.blogspot.com

www.simplydynamo.blogspot.com

Email: [email protected]

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 Technically Speaking: How to Prepare and Deliver an Engaging Technical Presentation
By Marcello Sgambelluri Autodesk University 2014

Contents
Introduction............................................................................................................................. 5
5 Steps on How to Prepare for a Technical Presentation .......................................................... 6
Number 5 Research .......................................................................................................................... 6
Research and choosing your topic ........................................................................................................................6
Rejecting Rejection .............................................................................................................................................11
Choosing your “Set List” .....................................................................................................................................14

Number 4 Make Time ..................................................................................................................... 15

Number 3 Test the Technical Content ............................................................................................. 16
Number 2 Practice the Presentation ............................................................................................... 17
Number 1 Make a Great Handout and Presentation Slides ............................................................. 19
Handout ..............................................................................................................................................................19
Slides ...................................................................................................................................................................22
Live Demo or No Live Demo? ..............................................................................................................................22

4 Steps on How to Deliver an Engaging Presentation............................................................. 23

Intro ............................................................................................................................................... 23
Number 4 Set the Mood at the Beginning....................................................................................... 23
Music before the start .......................................................................................................................................23
Show up Early .....................................................................................................................................................24
Work the Crowd ..................................................................................................................................................24
How to start ........................................................................................................................................................25

Number 3 Engage the Audience ..................................................................................................... 26

Move Don’t stay still ...........................................................................................................................................27
Knowing your Audience ......................................................................................................................................27
Adjust to the Audience .......................................................................................................................................28
Treat it like a discussion not a Presentation .......................................................................................................29
To Ask or Not to Ask (why do people worry about questions being asked?) ....................................................30
Tell them to heckle you.......................................................................................................................................31
Repeat the questions it’s not just for the recording ...........................................................................................31
You are there for them, not they are there for you............................................................................................32
You need to show that audience that you spent a lot of time and effort ..........................................................33
What not to say ..................................................................................................................................................33
Show you are excited about the material ...........................................................................................................34
How do you know you are Ready? Pick a Topic you are Excited about ..............................................................34
Tell them how you feel .......................................................................................................................................35
Palms Up .............................................................................................................................................................35
Joke and keep it light hearted.............................................................................................................................36

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Technically Speaking: How to Prepare and Deliver an Engaging Technical Presentation
By Marcello Sgambelluri Autodesk University 2014

Plant Plants .........................................................................................................................................................37

Number 2 Manage of the Room ..................................................................................................... 38

Expect the Unexpected .......................................................................................................................................38
Practice Technical Failures too ...........................................................................................................................39
Stay on Time .......................................................................................................................................................40
Audience Participation ........................................................................................................................................41
Off topic questions..............................................................................................................................................41
Comments not questions or long winded questions ..........................................................................................41
I didn’t know I had a co speaker .........................................................................................................................42
Managing the Hecklers .......................................................................................................................................42

Number 1 Close with a Bang........................................................................................................... 43

Last to Leave .......................................................................................................................................................43
Close with a bang ................................................................................................................................................43

4
 Technically Speaking: How to Prepare and Deliver an Engaging Technical Presentation
By Marcello Sgambelluri Autodesk University 2014

Introduction

P
reparing for a class at a major technical conference is no easy task. Take it from me I
know. I’ve been teaching classes at technical conferences for about five years now. One
thing that I have learned is that you need two special ingredients in order to make a
conference presentation successful. The first is you need to have technically solid material and
secondly you need to be able to deliver that technical content in an interesting way and an
engaging way to the audience. This presentation is going to summarize how you actually do
those two things in five easy steps.

In this course I will present and recommend that you (as the presenter) follow 5 steps simple
steps on both how to prepare and how to deliver a technical presentation. I will also include how
‘I” has accomplished these steps in the past in front of an audience. It will be up to you if you
want to apply my methods or make up your own. Just because I do it that way does not mean
you have to. This course was not intended to have you present and preform like me.

This presentation is really geared towards a technical conference and preparing for a technical
conference and delivering a presentation at a technical conference however some of the tasks
that you find in here could be applied to a presentation that you would do in a board room or in
front of a client.

Preparing for a technical presentation and delivering a technical presentation takes a very long
time. If it’s done right it will take you about six months. I like to think of you (the speaker) as an
athlete in training for the Olympics and you could think about the event or the technical
presentation as the actual Olympics. So it is important that you prepare and you train yourself
just like an athlete would for the Olympics.

What is important to remember with the technical conference is that everyone in the audience
are already technically savvy so you can’t trick them with a lot of technical talk and think they
will not see right through you. They usually come to a conference to get a question answered
and they expect you as the presenter to answer that question. This means that there is a lot of
expectation upfront from the audience. That means if your presentation is not technically solid
than you run the risk of the audience poking holes in it and losing your credibility. So it is
essential that your first task is to make your presentation technically solid and that is done thru
preparation and practice or the time before the actual presentation.

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 Technically Speaking: How to Prepare and Deliver an Engaging Technical Presentation
By Marcello Sgambelluri Autodesk University 2014

5 Steps on How to Prepare for a Technical Presentation

Number 5 Research
Research and choosing your topic
When you are preparing to give a technical presentation to a conference you must first select
your topic. This will happen usually six months in advance from the presentation itself. That is a
long time but it gives you enough time to do the proper research on your topic and to make sure
that you convince yourself that this is the topic that you want to present on.

What topic to choose?

You need to make sure when picking a topic that you are completely passionate about the topic.
Let’s face it, technical presentations are by nature, boring because they are filled with data and
button clicking, if you have a live demo.
“…you need to convince yourself Therefore, you already have an uphill battle on
your hands to make the content interesting. One
that what you have to present way to make it interesting is to pick a topic that
you love and are passionate about. The
is pure gold” audience will notice you are passionate and will
likely be more interested in the topic.

You need to make sure that the industry needs to hear what you have to say about your topic so
choose a topic that the industry is asking for and that they want to know more about. This will
also make the audience more interested. The last thing you want to do is present on a topic
that has never been done in the same way. So you need to convince yourself that what you
have to present is pure gold. If you feel that way about it then it’s easier for the audience you will
be presenting to will feel that way about it too.

When I choose a topic for a conference I ask the industry what you need.. When I first became
Revit user in 2008 I would consistently hear that complex geometry was not able to be built
within the Revit environment and as a Revit user I thought how true that because I never
created any complex geometry. I decided to take it upon myself to figure out if it could be done
and I was able to model these two families in Revit, the elephant that you see in below and the
cow also shown below. Once I convinced myself that it could be done then I decided this would
be something that industry should know.

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 Technically Speaking: How to Prepare and Deliver an Engaging Technical Presentation
By Marcello Sgambelluri Autodesk University 2014

Complex Geometry In Revit

I was also told that no one could model complex geometry using topography elements inside of
Revit or dirt. Once I convinced myself it could be done as shown below, I decided to teach a

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 Technically Speaking: How to Prepare and Deliver an Engaging Technical Presentation
By Marcello Sgambelluri Autodesk University 2014

class as well’s at Autodesk University. I also heard that you couldn’t create elements and scale
them inside of Revit easily or morph them easily and that’s what you see in figure 4.

Hardscape and Topography in Revit

More Complex Families in Revit

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 Technically Speaking: How to Prepare and Deliver an Engaging Technical Presentation
By Marcello Sgambelluri Autodesk University 2014

Look for RED FLAGS

Once your topic is picked, you have to ask yourself, how do I research my topic and why should
I research my topic. You research your topic because you want to know more about it. You also
want to know what has been done in the industry on your topic. The best way to start your
research on a topic is to do a simple Google search. If you have proposed a topic at a
conference or if you were going to present a topic and you did not Google that topic then you’re
selling yourself short.

At this stage you are going to want to be looking for any red flags. A red flag could be something
that someone has done in the past that is exactly the same as your topic and that you would not
be covering anything new. Another red flag is a method that you have come up with that you
want to present that is completely wrong. Another red flag is the message you have come up
with is more complicated than a method that someone has else has come up with that yield the
same results. Get those red flags out early.

I myself have found a topic that actually had a red flag on it. This is a true story I actually started
writing code that would
eventually be turned into
an add-in for Revit a
particular topic that dealt
with work sets. I was
almost finished with it then
I talked to a colleague of
mine and he casually
mentioned that the latest
and greatest version of
the software actually had
that functionality in it.

Make sure to check the

“What’s New” Feature on
the latest Software that
you are presenting about.

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 Technically Speaking: How to Prepare and Deliver an Engaging Technical Presentation
By Marcello Sgambelluri Autodesk University 2014

Forum Posts
Another way I researched topic is I will create a forum post and I will ask very specific questions
about that software. For example if I’m am going to present a class on Dynamo I’m going to ask
what is everyone’s experience with Dynamo how easy is it to use and where are the typical
issues. Most importantly I will ask how people feel about the topic.

I have found that forum posts actually draw out some of those emotions out of people. And
when you get people to tell you how they feel about a particular topic. You really learn more
about it and how important it really is and how it impacts their lives.

Below is a sample forum post.

Watching Others
As part of my research I not only research the technical part I also research how others have
done presentations in the past. I enjoy watching presentations on Autodesk University online as
well as Ted talks just to see how other presenters present. I have spent dozens of listening to
some of the great speakers from Autodesk University in the past including. I learn a lot from the
presentations and I ask myself these questions; how they begin the presentation? How do they
entertain and engage the audience? How do they concluded the presentation?

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 Technically Speaking: How to Prepare and Deliver an Engaging Technical Presentation
By Marcello Sgambelluri Autodesk University 2014

Rejecting Rejection
I thought it be important to talk about submitting that topic as an abstract to be accepted at a
conference. I’m sure most of you attendees have submitted abstract at one time or another

Just remember if your class gets rejected for a conference that doesn’t mean that all of the time
you spent researching it is wasted. What I do if my topic is rejected I will find other means at
which to introduce it to the public and the industry. I will create an article in an industry
magazine. Or I will give the presentation at a smaller conference.

But really I wanted to talk to you about how to handle rejection. If your class is rejected it doesn’t
necessarily mean that it’s over.. And what by I mean by that is it cant hurt to ask the selection
committee why it was rejected.

I’ve had a personal experience with this I’d like to share with you. In 2012 I proposed a class on
how to make complex geometry using Revit. It was rejected. I then planned to teach that same
class at another conference (RTC). It turned out that the person that rejected my class from
Autodesk also sat in that class at RTC. Once I was done presenting she immediately came up
to me and said that she rejected this class from Autodesk University. She enjoyed the class so
much she wanted to un-reject it and include my class in the Autodesk University 2012 schedule.
I was so excited I gladly accepted. That class ended up being voted top class at AU in 2012 at a
total of 600 classes that were taught that year.

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 Technically Speaking: How to Prepare and Deliver an Engaging Technical Presentation
By Marcello Sgambelluri Autodesk University 2014

Now fast forward to 2013, I propose two classes to be presented at Autodesk University 2013. I
found out in the middle of the year that those two classes were rejected. I was a little bit
surprised that the classes were not accepted. I thought this time of the flight back a little harder.
All I did was send out one twitter message and it basically said the following “my classes for
Autodesk University 2013 were rejected I guess Autodesk does not want their top speaker to
return” Many people who responded with their own opinions about how I should have been
accepted. This went on for two days. On the third day I received a call on the phone. It was the
content manager from Autodesk University. He told me that they wanted to un-reject my classes
and it was rejected on accident. It was a mistake and that they always intended for me present
at Autodesk University 2013. He then on rejected my classes just like in 2012 and added them
to the schedule. The first of those two classes shown below was also rated the highest lecture
class of 2013 not only did it get the highest rating it also got the highest rating ever out of the 21
year history of Autodesk University.

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The second class shown below that was un-rejected had the second-highest score 2013. The
lesson here is don’t give up. Could you imagine what happened would have happened back in
2012 if I would have given up, no 2012, no 2013 top classes and most likely no class in 2014.
In the end of the day I had someone ask me are you mad at Autodesk for rejecting your
classes? I said I am happy for them because they un-rejected them.

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Choosing your “Set List”

Every good technical presentation has a set of concrete examples to help illustrate the topics. I
refer to them as a set list because the list of examples that you choose is like a list of songs that
a band would choose before they go out on stage and perform. If you’re a presenter you are an
entertainer and is important to choose the right set lists.

A good set list will have examples that cover

a wide range of possibilities “…don’t just pick an example applications of your
topic and your methods. The order in which you
have your set list is also that works technically but important. You want
to put the most interesting and one that is interesting, complex set list
item at the end of your presentation. You
also want your simplest to be engaging and relevant” at the beginning.

I like to put the most interesting and

complex set list item at the end of my presentation for two reasons. The first is a like everyone
to walk away with what could be possible if you took this method and push it to its extreme limit.
Also you’ll want to save your best material for last similar to how a band plays their hit song at
the end of their concert.

There’s no easy way to pick a set list.

What I do is I don’t just pick an example
that works technically but one that is
interesting engaging and relevant. We
will talk about this more later but a set
list is actually a moving target into your
final preparations are completed.
Expect to change your set list. And just
like the best directors in the world
expect to cut out your favorite
examples. More on this later but there
have been times where I have thrown
out examples because the audience
that I practiced in front of does not
understand them. I will usually evaluate
and throw out 75% of all the examples
that I have tested. If your technical
presentation is a hands-on lab then the
examples could also be used as your
lab exercises.

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Number 4 Make Time

With all of our busy work schedules and family commitments it is very difficult to find time to
research and prepare a technical presentation. There’s a few things that I do to ensure that I
have enough time to prepare for my presentation. With that in mind a long time ago I made the
commitment that I would not let conference preparation get in the way of my work or my family.
So with that said the following is how I make time to prepare for presentation.

First and foremost I spend most of my time preparing for my presentations at night after the
family is asleep usually between 10pm to 1 AM. That’s the time I get to sit down in front of the
computer. Also, I create and organize my content in my head on my long commutes back and
forth from work. So if you have a long commute just keep in mind there is potential for you to get
a lot of preparation done. With that said when I have a long commute ahead of me I get very
excited because it means I can get a lot of work done!

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Number 3 Test the Technical Content

After research you’re going to want to test your technical content and how it works on your
computer. I test all my technical content over and over again. I ask myself does this work in
every situation? The best way for me to make sure I have all my bases covered is I pretend that
I’m a heckler in the crowd and I’m trying to discredit the presentation and the presenter by any
means necessary.

Testing your technical content is technically a form of practice but you don’t need to be in front
of a mirror or necessarily speak. You need to go through the motions of the presentation that
deals with the mechanics and the technical issues. There are potential red flags that you can
find when testing your technical content. Sometimes the information is no longer relevant
because it changed in the later version of the software. Did someone say Dynamo? Also make
sure you look at the “What’s new” section in the latest software to make sure you incorporate all
that new information or be prepared in-case the question comes up about it.

I have found that presentations that don’t have technically sound content fail miserably. At this
phase are going to want to make sure that your content is technically sound. I have even gone
as far as having colleagues test by methods and listen to me talk about them so I can get
feedback.

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 Technically Speaking: How to Prepare and Deliver an Engaging Technical Presentation
By Marcello Sgambelluri Autodesk University 2014

Number 2 Practice the Presentation

Practicing is essential. This section will

not talk about specifically how to practice
but rather when to practice and where to
practice. When I say practice I mean
practice the presentation not practice the
technical content that was in the previous
section. You will want to practice your
presentation with the set list that you have
set up already. Practicing helps get your
confidence level up which means you’ll be
less nervous when you’re actually giving
the live presentation. Practice really sets
the timing and how your voice will
correspond to all the material in the
presentation.

I like to think of practicing as a dress

rehearsal for the live presentation. This is
the time to make mistakes and correct
them. This is how I practice before every
technical presentation. I will practice the
presentation in front of a mirror because
this will show me how my body language
is. In the next section we will talk about
how body language is important in order to engage the audience.

I also record myself making a presentation. Nowadays it’s really simple you could use a
computer recording software such as Screencase by Autodesk. Screencast is free you could get
more information at the website (https://screencast.autodesk.com/)

When you record yourself the fun begins. It only helps to record yourself if you’re going to
actually watch yourself at a later time. When you watch yourself make sure you pay attention
about how your speaking. If you’re speeding up or slowing down no need to correct that. And
don’t worry if you get embarrassed. It’s natural. I get embarrassed when I watch myself though I
think about it this way and it makes me feel better. I am the only one watching myself and there
is no one else in the room so what is there to be embarrassed about. I tend to have a lot of fun
when I watch myself and I record myself all make jokes or notes to myself to say things later.
And watching yourself is a big time commitment. If you are giving a 90 minute presentation and
you have to record and watch yourself several times that hours and hours of replay time. What I
do is record audio as well and listen to the presentation while I commute.

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Next you’re going to want to practice in front of a live audience. This is essential if you have an
opportunity to do it. The best places to practice your presentation are at local user groups, at a
lunch and learn at your company, or at another conference. I actually use all three of these
places to practice my presentation and sometimes practice my presentation up to four times
before I actually give it at a conference.

It’s important to practice in front of a live audience for many reasons including being able to get
live audience feedback you cannot get that by just practicing in front of the mirror.

Live audience feedback will help you determine if the examples that you chose were to hard or
too confusing or two short. Live audience feedback will also help you determine if your jokes are
funny.

You are watching on how the audience responds to your set list and if it is unfavorable or they
don’t get it then you will need to adjust your set list accordingly. Now is the time to change the
set list because you don’t have time to do it during the actual presentation.

I myself have actually thrown out examples that were too confusing to the live “practice”
audience. If you cannot present in front of a live audience then perhaps consider presenting as
a webinar. I’m sure many of local user groups would enjoy having you participate even remotely
in a presentation.

When I practice I actually take it to the next level. When I think of practicing I think of simulating
audience participation as well as simulating the presentation itself including the environment in
which I present. It is not uncommon to have hardware failure or a file to go missing or some
other unexpected phenomena to happen. It is also not uncommon to get audience members to
not be “respectful”. I look at it as it is my job to be prepared for such things and I will try to
simulate the situations in a live presentation. There have been times when I’ve asked the local
user group I’m practicing my presenting at to sabotage my hardware without my knowledge or
to heckle me to see how I would react it. Try it it’s a lot of fun!

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 Technically Speaking: How to Prepare and Deliver an Engaging Technical Presentation
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Number 1 Make a Great Handout and Presentation Slides

Handout
The handout has to look great, get right to the point and be technically solid all in one so its no
easy task to create one. Keep in mind the following when creating a handout.

 The audience will NEVER EVER remember everything you say, and the handout will
allow all attendees to refer back to it to find out what was covered in the presentation.
 The handout is also used as a companion during the presentation to help attendees
follow along.
 The handout is used as a reference for others to find out what the presentation was
about who did not attend the presentation.
 The handout is also used by attendees at a conference to choose if they want to attend
the conference because the handout is a tool for them to get a summary of the class.
 Keep in mind that the typical handout reader will do the following

o Skim the figures with their eyes

o If they see an image they find interesting they will try to decipher the
“idea” of the article from the images

o If they are really feeling daring they will read the or words around the
image

o If they want to find out more from the caption then the read the paragraph
near it

o if they still want to find out more than they can go to the appendix

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Make sure to include figures. If you have a method makes sure to include on the figure itself as
shown below. That way when someone looks the figures they know the steps to take. Also your
figures should have interesting images and ones that tell a story of what the handout is about.
As you can see in this image that is from my handout on complex geometry and Revit in AU
2012, it shows an organic shape and it shows that at different scales.

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Also in creating a handout remember the following:

 Save the long winded text for the appendix, yes I recommend an appendix
because… you want the handout to look impressive even though most people
will never read it

 At some Conferences including Autodesk University because….you are graded

on the handout so make it look pretty. I personally create a hardcopy of my
handout and bring them to the presentation as shown below.

 Make sure someone Proof Reads it for you

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Slides
I have learned over the years that it is more important to present technically strong content then
to have flashy presentation slides.

Sure you can make your presentation out of per the lot of animations but at the end of the day
what really matters is how you present the topic. So my big word of advice is do not waste your
time on how the PowerPoint slide should look. Make sure that the PowerPoint slides summarize
each speaking point and elaborate on each one and do not just read the slide.

My boss had me change a presentation I was going to give to clients from a static powerpoint
presentation to a flashy Prezi presentation. My boss was thinking we needed to “wow” them with
the presentation and that it could not be accomplished by the static slides.. My boss at the time
and many others had the preconceived notion that what mattered were the slides and not the
actual “presentation”. After I gave the flashy Prezi presentation I learned quickly that all that
“flash” didn’t matter. What mattered was how we made the client feel and that is unrelated to
how flashy the presentation slides turned out.

Live Demo or No Live Demo?

I personally use PowerPoint presentations for technical
presentations only to show what I am going to cover. I then
switch to live demonstrations through 80% of my technical
presentation. I do this for two reasons one it’s a much easier
way to connect with the audience to show them that what
you’re doing is possible and it doesn’t make the presentation feel “canned” in anyway.

A lot of people have mixed feelings about if they should demo or not demo but it really depends
on your style. In lieu of live demonstrations I have seen pre-recorded demonstrations that are
played during the presentation this is good as long as you talk thru the pre recordings. I have
seen a presenter just play the pre-recording and not say anything. Although personally I feel if
you can touch the software it makes it more believable with the audience and it helps them
believe they are able it to. If you’re trying to tell a story with the dimension of time I would
recommend creating an animation. As shown in the figure below.

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4 Steps on How to Deliver an Engaging Presentation

Intro

A
ll that hard work of preparation is about to pay off. It is time to deliver the actual
presentation. The following will describe what to do once you walk into the presentation.
This is the moment you’ve been working towards. It is the day of the Olympics. I get
nervous every time before I speak. What helps me calm my nerves is I keep in mind that I know
this material more than anyone else because I spent the last six months preparing for it…or
however many months…or days… or hopefully not minutes before the presentation. The
primary goal of the presentation is to get the audience engaged and excited because they will
more likely remember what you said. The best technical content does not mean anything if you
are not able to present is a favorable way.

Number 4 Set the Mood at the Beginning

Establish a positive atmosphere early because you want everyone in the audience to feel
comfortable. Before the presentation people will be starting to file into the room and sit down.
Make sure you have something up on the screen preferably an intro slide of some sort that says
the title of the presentation and your name. You want to make sure people are in the right
presentation.

Music before the start

You really want to get everyone pumped and excited about
the material. Let’s face it technical content in and of itself is
not that interesting. Who’s getting get excited about button
clicks really? It is your job as the presenter to make it exciting.
Before the presentation even starts when everyone is starting
to filing into the presentation, I like to play music. It’s a good
way to start to set that mood. I recommend if you’re unsure
what music to play then don’t play anything. I like to choose
music with a beat to get everyone pumped up and ready to go
because it’s a lot like a rock concert. If lyrics will offend people
try the instrumental version of the song.

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 Technically Speaking: How to Prepare and Deliver an Engaging Technical Presentation
By Marcello Sgambelluri Autodesk University 2014

Show up Early
Make sure that you show up very early because you want to make sure that you have enough
time to set up. Also you want enough time to talk to the audience before you actually start. You
also want to show up early in case there are any problems with people getting into the
presentation you could help with that and it shows that you care.

Work the Crowd

Work the crowd, just like a rock concert, by walking around and talking to people. This will help
them understand that you are there to help them and
it will also give you a “Don’t worry about good idea of what some people
are expecting from the class. Also, if I know someone
who’s going to attend grabbing the my presentation I will
sometimes interview them before the class and ask
audience’s attention
what they expect out of the presentation. It’s a bit
difficult know what within the first few people expect unless you ask.

It’s not that critical to try minutes, worry about and hook the audience with
your opening statement. For the most part, the audience
has a good idea of what maintaining it during you’re going to talk. So it’s not
that important to try and convince them that the material
the presentation.”
you have to present is important to them. If they didn’t
feel that way they would not have attended.

You don’t need to have gimmicks with opening statements because you are not trying to sell
something or at least it should feel that way to the audience.

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How to start
Skip the winded intro. I have been guilty of this in the past. Most people are familiar with what
you’ve done and if the audience is not familiar there’s usually someone who introduces you
before you present. Say your name, the title of the presentation, the company you work for and
what you are going to cover.

Use the set list, shown below, as the outline of what you are going to cover and tell the
audience this early on. I always felt it advantageous to go over what I will be presenting. There
are people in the audience who will want to decide if they should stay based on what you’re
going to cover.

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Number 3 Engage the Audience

Now that you have finished your intro it is time to start your actual presentation. You need to
engage the audience and you need to make sure that what you are saying is coming from your
heart. I realized quickly that it is people’s emotions that you need to reach out to and make them
feel like you care. That is how you get the audience to remember your presentation. All you
need to do is keep them interested, active and feeling like you care about them. When I am at a
conference, I ask people I know when they leave a presentation, what they thought about it.
When the presentation is uneventful I get an answer such as “it was ok” or a little shoulder
shrug. When the presentation was engaging or made them feel good the answer is almost
always “that was amazing!” So the point is you want to engage the audience to turn this
comment “it was ok” to this comment “that was amazing!”

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 Technically Speaking: How to Prepare and Deliver an Engaging Technical Presentation
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Move Don’t stay still

Move around when you present and don’t stay still if possible. Move towards the audience even
if you are doing a live demo. Don’t get stuck behind the computer. Whenever I make a
presentation I’m constantly moving back and forth between my computer and addressing the
audience by walking forward to them. You don’t want them to fall asleep on you as shown
below.

Knowing your Audience

The easiest way to engage an audience is to ask questions. Before I start a presentation I
always poll the audience to find out who is actually in the audience. Worst thing you can do is
give a presentation to individuals who don’t care what you have to say or that your presentation
does not apply to them. The audience wants to know the following: How does this apply to me?
What could I actually learn from this presentation? I have a problem at work and I want this
presenter and this presentation to solve it.

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Adjust to the Audience

You need to adjust to the audience. This is not easy for it requires you to make slight changes
to your agenda on the spot. Do they find the material interesting? Is it relevant to them? If it’s
not than you need to change direction. Don’t freak out if people leave.

From my experience I have noticed up to 10% of the audience leave the room. People have
reasons for leaving that have nothing to do with how you are performing on stage so don’t take
it personally. However if you notice more than 10% leaving then you need to start wondering
what you are saying (or not saying) that could cause people to leave.

Let me tell you a story about the worst presentation I ever attended. I attended a class at a large
conference where the topic of the presentation was taking concept designs then on to the
completed projects. I expected the presenter to explain how to get from something that was
conceptual or conceptual shape to the finish building and everything in between. This
presentation had almost 400 people in attendance. The presenter would show a slide of a
concept design or simple shape and then show a slide of the finished building. There were no
slides for the material in between that explained the process. Over and over again there were
slides of a simple shape and then a slide of the finished building and nothing in between. Slowly
people start walking out of the room one by one. Within about 20 minutes almost 100 people left
the room. This was a 60 minute presentation and about 30 minutes in 200 people left the room I
myself decided to leave at about the 40 minute mark. It turned out that there were about 50
people remaining in their seats when the presentation ended. Yes that’s right they went from
400 people to 50 people.

Let’s talk about what went wrong with this presentation.

 First the presenter was not well prepared. It was obvious that the presenter did not
spend a lot of time preparing the slides or considering what the audience expectations
were in being able to meet them.
 Secondly the presenter talked in a monotone voice and hardly moved around the stage
so in that regard it was very uninteresting.
 Finally the presenter at no point in time decided to ask the audience why so many of
them were leaving.

If I was giving a presentation and I noticed more than 10% of the people leaving I would ask the
audience if there is something I’m missing or why are so many people leaving. Adjust to the
audience.

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 Technically Speaking: How to Prepare and Deliver an Engaging Technical Presentation
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Treat it like a discussion not a Presentation

I like to try and have the audience feel like the presentation is like a discussion as shown below.
This helps engage the audience because they feel like they are participating and not just a static
observer. What I do is I ask questions. To get your audience answer the questions is a little
more difficult. I have a few techniques that I liked I employ. But before we get to that let’s talk
about questions and if you should allow them to be asked by the audience.

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To Ask or Not to Ask (why do people worry about questions being asked?)
A majority of the time, the first thing any presenter I have encountered would will tell the
audience is to please hold questions until the end of the presentation.

Why? I am guilty of this. AU 2012 when I taught my class on complex geometry I said the same
thing, but I quickly realized during the presentation that people have a lot of questions. I felt it
was unfair not allow questions so I allowed them to be asked. I realized from that point on I
would not prevent people from asking questions whenever I presented.

Also I have had evaluations from attendees that have commented that I should not have
allowed questions during my presentations.

Why? Now let me ask you (the reader) a question. As an attendee why you are worried of
questions are asked during the presentation? Are you worried that the questions would disrupt
the flow the presentation? Are you worried that the presenter would not be able to finish all the
material because they’re bogged down the questions? Are you worried that the presentation
would veer off track and never come back because of questions? What if I said that if done
properly all of those concerns could be dealt with if the presenter was allowed to manage the
room and the questions correctly? Would you as an attendee then allow questions? Is it really
fair to say that you don’t want to have questions asked when you may have questions yourself?
In the later segment I will discuss talk about how to manage the room and I will give you some
tips on how I managed questions that come up. Also as a presenter I would like to see a lot of
hands raised for questions as opposed to no questions. This would indicate that everyone was
interested, engaged and wanted to learn more. So I say “raise those hands” and ask.

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 Technically Speaking: How to Prepare and Deliver an Engaging Technical Presentation
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Tell them to heckle you

So how do you get the audience to engage and ask you, the
presenter questions? When I was practicing my presentation
at the LA Revit User Group in early 2014, I told the audience
to heckle me and gives me a hard time. It was all in good fun
and I wanted to try to practice to see how I could handle
those types of situations.

But something wonderful happened something I didn’t expect

it all. In fact no one heckle me instead I had people ask
questions that in the past have remained completely silent. It
was as if I said to them “feel free to ask any question you
want and you will not be judged and no one can hold it
against you”. This was puzzling so I tried it again at the
Portland Revit user group in July 2014.

The same result, the audience was engaged and a lot of

people ask questions and a few people who have never said
anything before in the past starting ask questions. Wow! I
thought I stumbled onto something amazing here. From now on when I present I am going to
allow any questions and heckling to occur because it brings out more questions in the audience
becomes more engaged. So if you are not able to get the audience to engage try asking them to
heckle you.

Repeat the questions it’s not just for the recording

Let’s talk about what you should be doing when someone asked question. The most important
thing you have to do is you have to repeat the question. Even if the session is not being
recorded or streamed live to others who are not able to hear the question being asked.

If you don’t repeat the question then what happens is the question and answer session ends up
as a conversation between the presenter and the person that asked the question and ultimately
everybody else is left out. I like to think of questions as supplemental information to the actual
presentation itself.

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 Technically Speaking: How to Prepare and Deliver an Engaging Technical Presentation
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You are there for them, not they are there for you
If you want to engage your audience you need to make them feel comfortable, and know that
what you are saying is coming from your heart. You want the audience to feel like you are there
to help them.

Back in 2012 I got one negative comment on one of my evaluations at Autodesk University. And
it simply said this person is full of himself. At the root of that comment to me meant that that
person was feeling like I was selfish. That
comment hit me really hard because that was
furthest from the truth. The whole reason I
give presentations is to share information or
one of the reasons. And I failed as a presenter
to convince everyone that I was there to help
them and I wasn’t being selfish.

So the next year I told myself that I could not

give off that impression of being selfish. I tried
something very bold. I turned my presentation
completely around. From that point on I told
everyone that I was proud of them for
attending that they were my heroes for being
there and learning. That was exactly how I
was feeling and that is what I told the
audience and as a result I did not appear
selfish.

So when you’re presenting you need to leave

your ego at the door and remember you are
there for them they are not there for you.

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You need to show that audience that you spent a lot of time and effort
Show the audience that you spent a lot of time and effort on the presentation because it makes
the audience feel like you prepared and care about the topic.

Don’t say things which are negative in which make people think that you did not spend a lot of
time prepping for the presentation. Never say this, “I been doing this presentation for years now
and I’m just giving it to you today and this is the same one I been giving year after year after
year after year”. Also don’t say things like this: “I threw this together last night or last minute”.
That will definitely make people think that you don’t care.

What not to say

Also don’t say something like this: “This material is
boring” or “I don’t really care about this material” Or “I
was forced into doing this presentation”. Those types of
statements make the audience feel like you don’t care so
why should they care. Also if you are presenting at a
conference that requires you create handouts don’t say
something like this: “The handout are not ready, I will
give it to you sometime next week” or “I wrote the
handout last night and it doesn’t have a lot of information
in it”. You have to make them think that this is the only
task you have on the entire planet and that you put your
heart or soul into preparing for the presentation.

Also if you give live demonstrations make sure you share your data sets. This is important
because everyone wants to try this stuff at home and if you share it people think you care.

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Show you are excited about the material

If you want to get the audience excited about the material then you as the presenter have to
show that you are excited about the material. Showing my excitement is one of the things that I
make sure I do when I’m making a presentation as shown below.

How do you know you are Ready? Pick a Topic you are Excited about
In order to show that you’re excited about topic you need to prove first to yourself that you are
excited about the topic. I know there are some presentations where you are a presenter and you
are forced to give a presentation about a particular topic. Let’s not talk about those situations.
Let’s concentrate on the situations where you actually get to choose a topic to present on.

How do you know you’re excited enough about a presentation? I have come up with a method
that I use to test whether a topic is worthy of being presented by myself at a presentation. This
test basically establishes two things first it establishes if I’m excited about it and to tests whether
there is a need for. If you can satisfy those two things, then it is worthy enough to be a topic for
presentation. I like to call the test the “fire drill”.

The test goes like this; imagine that your presentation only exists on your flash drive that you left
at your place of business. You were quickly evacuated from your place of business because of
emergency fire drill. But when you left you forgot your flash drive that had your presentation on

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 Technically Speaking: How to Prepare and Deliver an Engaging Technical Presentation
By Marcello Sgambelluri Autodesk University 2014

with your topic. You realize this and want to go back in the building but the emergency personal
at the door will not let you in. Here’s where the test is.

You need to convince that person that your presentation that only exists on a flash drive in your
office needs to be saved and the rest of the world would be a much better place if you were able
to present it. Do you think you have what it takes to convince that person to let you in? You
would need to make sure you were excited enough to get them excited enough to risk your life
to save it. Think about that.

Tell them how you feel

What I found be very helpful is to tell the crowd how I’m feeling, the good feelings I mean. If I get
excited about something during the presentation then I tell them how excited I am. If I am
frustrated about a particular part of the software that I am demonstrating then I tell them I am
frustrated. How I feel and telling the audience makes me connect with them on a personal
“down to earth” level.

Palms Up
In order to engage the audience it is important to know how you are using your body language.
Personally I’m not an expert on body language but I do know what has worked for me in the
past and that is to talk with your palms up. It’s a gesture that will make the audience feel that
you are not being threatening in any way. If you are not threating then the audience is more
likely to follow along with what you are saying and telling them to do. This is very helpful in a
technical presentation because you are usually telling the audience to follow a particular
method. Speaking with your palms up has been studied in the past just type “palms up body
language” in the Google search engine and you will see numerous studies on the subject.

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 Technically Speaking: How to Prepare and Deliver an Engaging Technical Presentation
By Marcello Sgambelluri Autodesk University 2014

Joke and keep it light hearted

Joking and keeping it light hearted is something that is not

easily taught. I joke all the time in my presentations because I
always feel like when I present to an audience I’m having a
lot of fun and when I am having a lot of fun I like to joke
around. Not saying you have to joke around it or be funny
but if you do it you have to be very careful that you don’t
offend anyone. The safest thing to do is fun of yourself.
When I make fun of myself I usually will joke about things
that I’ve done in the past and how I felt. Also another thing I
like to joke about is the software or the technology that I’m
using and demonstrating at the presentation. Most people can
relate to that because they are at the presentation to learn some technical information about
particular software or technology. Typically the audience that uses the software that you are
presenting about has at some point been frustrated with it and if joke about that then they are
quick to relate. There is one more thing that I do joke about commonly and that is the
workplace. Most everyone in the audience has a work environment that at times can be
frustrating and it’s easy to joke about it because everyone can relate.

Another reason why I joke is because I like to keep the presentations light hearted and happy
and funny all the time. If I’m not joking and keeping the presentation light hearted the tendency
of the audience is to think that it is not a fun presentation. And if the audience is not having fun
it’s more difficult for them to pay attention and to participate.

Getting audience to respond to a joke or something that you’re trying to say in a funny situation
where you need laughter is not an easy thing to do. People laugh at something that’s funny if
they feel happy and if others around them are feeling happy.

I think of laughter and joking is the same thing as getting applause during the presentation.
Typically my presentations will have applause at some point during the presentation only
because I have stopped and I have expressed how important something is and the audience
agrees with me then I will typically get applause. If I find that an audience agrees with what I am
saying and thinks applause is not appropriate they will not clap. But once one person claps
then most of the time most of the audience will join in. So how to you get the audience to
applause? Simple, just plant a plant in the audience.

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 Technically Speaking: How to Prepare and Deliver an Engaging Technical Presentation
By Marcello Sgambelluri Autodesk University 2014

Plant Plants
What do I mean when I say “plant a plant”? A “plant” or what I also like to refer to as a “ringer” is
someone I know in the audience who helps get the applause or laugher started. It may seem
like its tricking the audience but I see it as a primer to get at the audience going. You got a
make sure though that your plant is paying attention the entire time. I have tried to get people I
know do be the plant in my presentations then I found out when I paused for the applause they
were on their phone or not paying attention. Make sure you get someone who knows what
you’re talking about when you say could you please be my plant if you decide to use one.

Beyond that I don’t use any type of fake or tricky methods to get the audience to buy what I’m
saying. What I mean is I’ve never had my plants ask scripted questions. I’ve never had my
plants strike up conversations with others in the audience about how good I am is a presenter or
how they need to fill out the evaluations after. It’s really important to me that my feelings of how
I want to help the audience are genuine. If too many things are scripted it doesn’t seem genuine
in my opinion.

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 Technically Speaking: How to Prepare and Deliver an Engaging Technical Presentation
By Marcello Sgambelluri Autodesk University 2014

Number 2 Manage of the Room

What will you do if you had a hardware failure?
What if you have someone who is heckling you?
As the presenter the audience is expecting you
to manage the room and therefore manage
these types of situations. Below are some items
or issues that could potentially happen during
your presentation and how I manage them.

Expect the Unexpected

When you make a presentation you need to
expect the unexpected. Anything can happen
while giving a presentation and you need to be
prepared because the show must go on. What
happens if you had a hardware failure? What
would happen if your computer stopped
working? What happens if you couldn’t find your
file? What happens if your monitor on your
computer went out? What happens if the
projector stopped working? What if your
microphone stopped working? These are just the hardware issues.

Are you truly prepared to have the show go on if anyone of these situations were to happen?
How do you prepare yourself in case one of these failures was to occur? Fortunately most of the
time when you’re presenting at a large conference major technical issue could be resolved
because there is an on-call technician on-site. If your microphone stopped working or if the
projector stopped working there is usually a technician on-call who will be able to assist. The
question is what you do while the situations being resolved. Do you sit there quietly? Do you
continue speaking? Is it even possible to do a presentation with a blank screen?

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 Technically Speaking: How to Prepare and Deliver an Engaging Technical Presentation
By Marcello Sgambelluri Autodesk University 2014

Practice Technical Failures too

I have found that the best thing to do during a technical
crisis is to remain calm and make sure you find a solution
“…during a Technical
to your problem and have someone help you. While
they’re solving the problem failure I never let the continue your presentation as
if nothing happened. How do you do this? Practice it. I
practice speaking with a audience sits in blank computer for example. I
practice to make sure that I remain calm during crisis
silence for too long,
situations. Just like I have asked for the audience to
heckle me during my remember the show precious sessions in front of
a live audience I’ve also asked the organizers of the
presentation to somehow must go on” “sabotage” my technical
equipment in one form or another.

I cannot stress enough the importance of bringing up backups. I bring backups of backups. That
way in case the data on my computer is missing or gone I have a backup. In case my backup
which usually is flash drive is corrupted or doesn’t work I have a backup of that as well. I also
have a contingency plan in case the back of the back of doesn’t work. It’s not ideal but what I do
is I prepare myself to give the entire presentation without a data set where I need to start
everything from scratch if I was using a live demonstration of the software.

Another thing I have done is given a presentation when the computer projector has gone out. I
have found the worst thing you can do is allow the audience to sit in silence while you work
through a technical issue that really slows down the momentum of the presentation.

So expecting the unexpected can really help you keep your stress levels low when faced with
the technical crisis situation. During a Technical failure I never let the audience sit in silence for
too long, remember the show must go on.

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 Technically Speaking: How to Prepare and Deliver an Engaging Technical Presentation
By Marcello Sgambelluri Autodesk University 2014

Stay on Time
Make sure you stay on time. The audience
expects you to start and end on time. When I
present I’m very conscious of time. In fact
during my presentation I will make sure the
audience knows that I am conscious of time
because during the presentation I will say
“how we doing on time?” One of the most
frustrating things I could do to an audience is
not get through all your material and later tell
them I didn’t have time to finish. It’s not an
easy thing to finish on time. If you want to
stay on time in most situations you need to
adjust your presentation as you’re talking.

I make sure that I have a backup plan in

case my presentation runs too long or too
short. I actually lean on the side of having too little material to present then if I have time I will
add topics at the end. That way in case I’m moving too quickly I have enough material to fill the
time. I also make sure when I make a presentation that I allow myself to cut certain sections off
just in case I don’t get to all the material.

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 Technically Speaking: How to Prepare and Deliver an Engaging Technical Presentation
By Marcello Sgambelluri Autodesk University 2014

Audience Participation
We talked about the need for the audience to participate in order to have an engaging
presentation. However, it is important to make sure that you keep the audience participation
under control. Below are a few situations that you need to recognize that could potentially
interfere with your presentation when the audience is participating. Sometimes audience
members only want to be heard and they think that question time is a time for them to get on
their soapbox. It is your job as the presenter to keep these types of situations under control. As
a presenter you need to be respectful about the people who participate but firm about the
guidelines or the boundaries at which the audience are allowed participate.

Off topic questions

If you ask the audience for questions I have found the best way to keep questions on track is to
ask the audience if they have specific questions about what you have just spoken about or have
shown. This way it narrows down the type of questions that are asked. I have found even when I
say this I will get occasional questions that are not related to the process or method that I just
showed. In these situations I quickly point out that I specifically asked for questions about what I
have just shown. Also there been times when I have got a lot of “what if” questions. When I get
these I’m happy because I know the audience is participating but I make sure to address the
audience and tell them that if they have a comment or question is off-topic they can have a beer
with me later and I would be more than happy to talk about it but the classroom setting is not the
time or the place for off-topic questions.

Comments not questions or long winded questions

Quite often when I ask if there are any questions during a presentation I will get comments
instead of questions. I would then tell the audience to ask questions not bring up comments. I
have even once said outright “so what is your question?” to an audience member who was
clearly trying to discredit the method I was presenting. This quickly establishes to the entire
audience that you want questions not comments.

Another type of situation that you want to make sure to keep under control is when an audience
member will take a long time to ask a question. A good guideline is if a question is being asked
longer than 10 seconds then you as the presenter have to tell them to hurry the question along
or ask after the session is over. You certainly don’t want to be over time because someone was
asking long winded questions. Typically people in the classroom are very respectful of your time
as the presenter and long winded questions are the exception not the rule. However it’s good to
know how to spot long winded questions. Also if you get an audience member that does not ask
the question right away and precedes question with a statement or disclaimer a red flag should
go up in your mind and you need to quickly ask the question. The best way to deal with the
situation is to immediately say after disclaimer something like this “could you please ask your
question quickly?” Remembered always be polite.

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 Technically Speaking: How to Prepare and Deliver an Engaging Technical Presentation
By Marcello Sgambelluri Autodesk University 2014

I didn’t know I had a co speaker

Another thing to watch out for is when you get people in the audience that do not ask questions
but rather make comments to the audience and not you as the presenter. These type of people I
like to call the want to be co-presenters. These are audience members who stand up ask a
question or see a comment and address the audience instead of you as the speaker. The way
to recognize these individuals is when they stand up and ask a question their shoulders are
open towards the crowd and they are facing the audience. This also should raise a red flag in
your mind and you will need to nip that behavior in the bud. If you don’t then you may get an
audience that is listening to that individual and not you anymore. What I have said in the past
was something like this “I’m going to have to check the class description because I wasn’t
aware that I had a co-speaker” have fun with it.

Managing the Hecklers

Keep in mind that as the presenter you are the boss. If you have an unruly individual who just
keeps heckling you could ask them to leave the room nicely. What I like to do when I present
and have audience participation is to always remember to act respectful and be in the present. I
mean to remain confident and don’t overreact with your emotions even if the questions
comments or hecklers are not so nice. The good news is the result of all the presentations I’ve
made I’ve never had anyone give me a purposely hard time so the chances of you as a
presenter having overbearing hecklers are slim to none. Just make sure you manage the room
and stay on time.

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 Technically Speaking: How to Prepare and Deliver an Engaging Technical Presentation
By Marcello Sgambelluri Autodesk University 2014

Number 1 Close with a Bang

Last to Leave
As I mentioned before, try to save the best part of presentation for last. People tend to
remember the last part of the presentation and you want to be that topic that sticks with them as
they walk out the door. Always make sure you tell the audience that you will be around after
class and available in case there any questions.

Close with a bang

I will usually end the presentation with music as the audience is walking out of the room. This
tactic works for Disney Parks. Remember when you are done with a ride you exit and there is
always adventure happy music playing. When I play music at the end I want the audience to
have a similar experience. The presentation is like the Disney Park ride and then there is the
feel good music. Just like at the Disney Park you leave feeling happy and then they herd you
thru the expensive ride theme merchandize hoping you would buy it because the ride and the
send out music made put you in a good mood. Well, hopefully something similar will happen
after the presentation, the audience wants to give you a great evaluation because the
presentation and the send out music put them in a good mood and then just like the Disney
Park the attendees are herded to the computer stations to perform the class evaluations. The
point is to KEEP the audience pumped up about what they saw and so when their peeps ask
them how the presentation was they will not give it a shoulder should and say it was “ok” they
will say it was amazing! Good luck my presentation heroes!

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 Make Hardscape Follow Site Topography and Site
Topography Follow Hardscape in Autodesk® Revit®

Marcello Sgambelluri – John A. Martin & Associates Structural Engineers

AB3340

Ever model Autodesk Revit elements on site topography and can't quite get them to follow the exact
contours? This class shows you how. Get step-by-step instructions on how to build straight walls, curved
walls, sidewalks, curbs, stairs, planters, roads, and other hardscape elements of any shape or size that
follow the exact shape and contour of any site topography element. Conversely, this class also teaches
you how to model site topography to match the location and shape of hardscape elements. No third-party
programs, API programming, or other programs other than Revit are used in this class. This class first
introduces fundamental concepts that will become the foundation for which all the element modeling will
be created from. This class also shows how to work with those stubborn site topographies to get them to
do what you need.

Learning Objectives
At the end of this class, you will be able to:
 Create hardscape elements that follow site topography
 Create hardscape elements that dynamically change so they follow site topography even if the
topography changes
 Create hardscape elements that dynamically change so they follow site topography even if the
hardscape element moves
 Model site topography to match the location and shape of hardscape elements
 Make Hardscape Follow Site Topography
and Site Topography Follow Hardscape in Autodesk® Revit®

About the Speaker

Marcello is the BIM Director at John A. Martin & Associates Structural Engineers in Los
Angeles, CA. He has been using Autodesk products for over 15 years including Revit. Marcello
is the top rated speaker at The Revit Technology and at Autodesk University each year. He also
tests the yearly releases of Revit. He has worked on many large and complex projects including
the Walt Disney Concert Hall in Los Angeles, CA, the Stata Centre at MIT, and the Tom Bradley
International Terminal Expansion at LAX. Marcello received B.S. and M.S. degrees in Civil
Engineering. He is also a licensed Civil and Structural Engineer.

@marcellosgamb
therevitcomplex.blogspot.com
[email protected]

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 Make Hardscape Follow Site Topography
and Site Topography Follow Hardscape in Autodesk® Revit®

Table of Contents

Make Hardscape Follow Site Topography and Site Topography Follow Hardscape in
Autodesk® Revit® .......................................................................................................................1
Learning Objectives ...................................................................................................................1
About the Speaker .....................................................................................................................2
Introduction ................................................................................................................................4
Create hardscape elements that follow site topography............................................................5
Straight Wall (Wall Element) ..................................................................................................5
Straight Road (Floor Element by sub-element)....................................................................14
Curved Road (Floor Element by sub-element).....................................................................25
Curved Road (Wall by Face) ................................................................................................36
Curved Railing (Repeater) ...................................................................................................43

Create hardscape elements that dynamically change so they follow site topography even
if the topography or hardscape element changes .................................................................52
Curved Road (Wall by Face with Entourage).......................................................................52
Parking Lot (Wall by Face with Entourage)..........................................................................64

Model site topography to match the location and shape of hardscape elements ..............75
How to Model Helical Site Topo (Divided Path Method) ......................................................75
How to Model Helical Site Topo (Import Method) ................................................................81

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 Make Hardscape Follow Site Topography
and Site Topography Follow Hardscape in Autodesk® Revit®

Introduction
A Little Bit about Site Topography, A Love/Hate Relationship
I first thought that the site topography modelling tools in Revit were “clunky” compared to other
Revit modelling tools but over time I learned to respect them. It’s not that they are clunky; they
just use a different set of rules so it is understandable that most Revit users do not like them. I
have also heard, and used to believe, that it was frustrating working with site topo elements
because they do not like to “interact” with other element. I hope that this document will help you
appreciate the site topography tools and give you a better understanding and better tools and
methods to work with site topography.

What is this all about? Following contours, No more eyeballing it

This document will not show you how to model site topography themselves, as I said. What this
document will show you are methods and examples of how to make hardscape elements, such
as roads, and walls, curbs and planters, (etc.) follow the exact shapes of site topographies.
You will also learn methods whereby the hardscape elements can be made to not only interact
with but will actually change when adjustments are made to the topographies.

To do this correctly, the methods presented include modelling and importing elements that are
used only for the creation of other elements; these are called “sacrificial elements” or “guide
entities” because their sole purpose is to be used as temporary aids in the modelling and
creation of other final elements.

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 Make Hardscape Follow Site Topography
and Site Topography Follow Hardscape in Autodesk® Revit®

Create hardscape elements that follow site topography

Straight Wall (Wall Element)

Sample and Description

In this lab exercise you will be placing a straight wall along Grid A between Grids 1 and 2. I
thought it would be fun to learn how to place a straight wall that follows the contours of a
complex topographical shape. Therefore I modelled a human head with the site topography
tools so you could practice on something that is not simply a (boring), nearly flat site topo
shape. Why a human head to show a complex shape? Why not!

If you can place a straight wall that follows the shape of a human head then you can place a
straight wall on any topo shape in the future.

Before we get started keep in mind that even though a wall’s profile is used in this example,
this principle could be applied to a number of other elements including, curbs, pipes, etc. The
final wall will look like the Figure below.

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 Make Hardscape Follow Site Topography
and Site Topography Follow Hardscape in Autodesk® Revit®

1. Open the Supporting File called “EX_1_AU_Straight_wall_START.rvt” and go to 3-D

view as shown in the Figure Below

2. Go to the site plan and add a rectangular building pad boundary between grids 1 to 2
and A to B as shown in the figure below. Make sure that the building pad is lower in
elevation than the site topography. The building pad could have any closed boundary
shape as long as the one boundary edge is located along grid A between grids 1 to 2.

Note: The building pad is the first sacrificial geometry that you will build to create the
straight wall and you will be using its upper edge to locate the wall. Why a building pad?
A building pad works well when there are only straight walls, or “line” elements, to
build.

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 Make Hardscape Follow Site Topography
and Site Topography Follow Hardscape in Autodesk® Revit®

3. Go back the default 3D view and select the “new topography” element that contains the
building pad boundary as shown in the figure below. (Tiling the plan & 3D view can be
an efficiency boost as well, simply open them both and type WT).

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 Make Hardscape Follow Site Topography
and Site Topography Follow Hardscape in Autodesk® Revit®

4. Isolate and export that new topography element as a .dwg. Make sure to not export all
the temporarily hidden elements as shown in the images below. Save the name and use
“EX_1” in the file name.

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 Make Hardscape Follow Site Topography
and Site Topography Follow Hardscape in Autodesk® Revit®

5. Create an in-place mass, give it any name (for this exercise), and insert the newly
exported .dwg as origin to origin level orient to view. The .dwg insert should line up
perfectly with the site topography element, which was cut by the building pad. You know
you have it in the right location when there are many mesh lines that show up as in the
Figure below.

Note: The new site topography element that is now a .dwg allows for its edges to be
pickable.

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 Make Hardscape Follow Site Topography
and Site Topography Follow Hardscape in Autodesk® Revit®

6. Go back to the site plan and add a wall by picking the edge of original building pad and
extend the top limits to any desired height above the site topography as shown in the
figure below.

7. Select the wall, edit the wall profile, and COMPLETELY delete all the wall profile lines.

8. While in “edit” mode activate the “pick” command and carefully tab select the top upper
edge of the inplace mass/ .dwg until the all the edges on grid A of the .dwg are picked. It
should look like the figure below.

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 Make Hardscape Follow Site Topography
and Site Topography Follow Hardscape in Autodesk® Revit®

9. While still in edit model delete the sides and bottom of the newly picked wall profile.
Select the top of the wall and copy it vertically 4000 millimeters. The wall profile should
look like the figure below.

Note: depending on actual project designs offsetting the lower edge’s profile may be used
instead of copy.

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 Make Hardscape Follow Site Topography
and Site Topography Follow Hardscape in Autodesk® Revit®

10. Click “finish” and cross your fingers……………………………………...

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 Make Hardscape Follow Site Topography
and Site Topography Follow Hardscape in Autodesk® Revit®

It worked! Congratulations, you just created a wall that follows the contours of site topography.
The finished wall should look like the image below.

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 Make Hardscape Follow Site Topography
and Site Topography Follow Hardscape in Autodesk® Revit®

Straight Road (Floor Element by sub-element)

Sample and Description

The road will be made out of a roof element and it will follow the contours of site topography by
adjusting the sub-elements of the roof and applying curbs to the roof element.

Note: The methods shown in this exercise could also be applied to a floor element
however a roof element was chosen since it is easier to host curbs onto roof objects.
The final road should look similar to the Figure below.

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 Make Hardscape Follow Site Topography
and Site Topography Follow Hardscape in Autodesk® Revit®

1. Open the Supporting File called “EX_2_AU_Straight_road_START.rvt” and go to 3-D

view as shown in the Figure Below

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 Make Hardscape Follow Site Topography
and Site Topography Follow Hardscape in Autodesk® Revit®

2. Open the site plan then go to the Ribbon>Site Tab> Split Surface tool. Sketch a
rectangle from grid intersection 2A to 3B -shown in blue highlights in the figure below.

Note: The split surface was the second sacrificial element that you built. The first was the
building pad, used to create a straight wall following the topography and you used the pad’s
upper edge to generate the wall.

Why a split surface and not a building pad? A building pad works well when there are
only straight walls to build or “line” elements. If you need to construct “area” elements
such as roads or sidewalks then the building pad is not the best sacrificial element to
use. Instead use a “split surface”. A split surface creates a separate topography.

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 Make Hardscape Follow Site Topography
and Site Topography Follow Hardscape in Autodesk® Revit®

3. Go back the default 3D view and select the “split surface” element, which is now a
separate topography element.

4. Isolate and export that new topography element as a .dwg. Make sure to not export all
the temporarily hidden elements as shown in the images below. Save the name and use
“EX_2” in the file name.

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 Make Hardscape Follow Site Topography
and Site Topography Follow Hardscape in Autodesk® Revit®

5. Insert the newly exported .dwg as origin to origin level orient to view IN THE PROJECT,
not the mass family. It is also a good idea to change the color to black and white so the
mesh lines are easier to see as shown in the figure below

The .dwg insert should line up perfectly with the site topography element. You know you have it
in the right location when there are many mesh lines that show up as in the Figure below.

Note: The new site topography element that is now a .dwg allows for its edges to be
pickable and is ALSO a sacrificial element.

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 Make Hardscape Follow Site Topography
and Site Topography Follow Hardscape in Autodesk® Revit®

6. Build the road!

How? Use a roof element and modify its sub elements. First add beams to the sacrificial .dwg.
Why? By adding beams to the sacrificial .dwg, it will allow the boundary to be “picked” easily
and also a beam is the ONLY element that the sub element modification tool will “pick”.
Therefore, the beams are also sacrificial elements and are 100% necessary to get the roof sub
elements to follow the site topography geometry.

Isolate the .dwg and click on the beam tool, make sure the box is checked for 3D snapping,
and tab select the boundary. When the boundary is highlighted click to add the beams and the
results should look like the figure below.

Note: For the best results for tab selecting the boundary, place your curser where the
red arrow is on the figure below.

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 Make Hardscape Follow Site Topography
and Site Topography Follow Hardscape in Autodesk® Revit®

7. Add the roof boundary by clicking on the “roof by footprint” command and setting it to
level 2 and tab selecting the boundary similar to the previous step. The results are
shown in the figure below.

Note: Make sure that the boundary is always below the lowest point of the topography.
Use a slope of 0/12 or uncheck “Defines Slope”.

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 Make Hardscape Follow Site Topography
and Site Topography Follow Hardscape in Autodesk® Revit®

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 Make Hardscape Follow Site Topography
and Site Topography Follow Hardscape in Autodesk® Revit®

8. Now, to force the sub-elements to follow the .dwg we do this by selecting the roof
element and selecting the “pick supports” command, then picking the (beam) supports.
Select each boundary beam individually and as you do, the roof element will
automatically begin to snap into the same location of its generative topography.
Completed image below.

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 Make Hardscape Follow Site Topography
and Site Topography Follow Hardscape in Autodesk® Revit®

9. Add curbs!

Adding curbs is easy when roofs are modelled as the roadway because curbs naturally host to
roofs.

Simply click on the Roof tool-dropdown and use the Roof Fascia command, in the view, tab
select the top of the roof element. Repeat for the other side of the road and presto, instant
curbs! The procedure is shown in the figure below.

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 Make Hardscape Follow Site Topography
and Site Topography Follow Hardscape in Autodesk® Revit®

Congratulations! The final results should now look like the figure below.

You have just created a roof element-road, complete with curbs, that all follow the shape of site
topography.

Note: Creating a road by using this roof by sub-element process will always look
“segmented”. Roofs by sub-element modification are not smooth like the site
topography. There method for creating such smooth elements “Roof by Sub-Element Roads”
explained later in this document.

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 Make Hardscape Follow Site Topography
and Site Topography Follow Hardscape in Autodesk® Revit®

Curved Road (Floor Element by sub-element)

Sample and Description

In this section you will be placing a curved helical road along a helical hillside using the floor
element and in part B you will be using a wall by face element and placing fencing using
repeaters. Also in part b you will be adding elevation tags and scheduling the length of the
road.

Note: The methods shown in this exercise could also be applied to a roof element
however a floor element was chosen since it is easier to select the entire edge of a floor.
The final road should look similar to the Figure below.

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1. Open the Supporting File called “EX_3A_AU_Curved_road_START.rvt” and go to 3-D

view as shown in the Figure Below

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2. Go to the site plan and select the Site Tab> Split Surface tool. Activate the pick lines
command and select grids 8 and 9 and grid D twice (or ‘Split’ the horizontal line). Use
the trim to corner command for each intersection; to complete the closed region. The
final boundary is shown in the figure below, in blue.

3. Go back to the default 3D view and select the “split surface” element, which is now a
separate topography element.

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4. Isolate and export that new topography element as a .dwg. Make sure to not export all
the temporarily hidden elements as shown in the images below. Save the name and use
“EX_3A” in the file name.

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5. Insert the newly exported .dwg as origin to origin level orient to view IN THE PROJECT,
not the mass family. It is also a good idea to change the color to black and white so the
mesh lines are easier to see as shown in the figure below

The .dwg insert should line up perfectly with the site topography element. You know you have it
in the right location when there are many mesh lines that show up as in the Figure below.

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6. Build the road!

How? Use a floor element and modify its sub elements. First add beams to the sacrificial .dwg.
Why? By adding beams to the sacrificial .dwg, it will allow the boundary to be “picked” easily
and also a beam is the ONLY element that the sub element modification tool will “pick”.
Therefore, the beams are also sacrificial elements and are 100% necessary to get the floor sub
elements to follow the site topography geometry.

Isolate the .dwg and click on the beam tool, make sure the box is checked for 3D snapping,
and tab select the boundary. When the boundary is highlighted click to add the beams and the
results should look like the figure below.

Note: For the best results for tab selecting the boundary, place your curser where the
red arrow is on the figure below.

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7. Add the floor boundary by clicking on the structure tab then floor structural option then
the pick support option as shown in the figure below. The reason to use a structural floor
is because the architectural floor does not have an option to pick a beam support as its
boundary.

8. Set the level to 1 and tab selecting the boundary similar to the previous step once the
boundary lines are created you will get an error as shown below, just click delete
element. The boundary will still close and be created. The results are shown in the figure
below.

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Note: Make sure that the boundary is always below the lowest point of the topography.

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Force the sub-elements to follow the .dwg by selecting the floor element and selecting the “pick
supports”. Select each boundary beam, individually and the roof will automatically snap into the
same location as the topography as shown in the figure below.

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If final results look similar to the figure below: Congratulations!

You just created a smooth floor element that follows the exact shape of the site topography.

Note: The fencing in the image below will be placed in the next exercise. Also, as stated
before, creating a road by using the floor by sub-element will always look “segmented”.
Floors by sub-element modification could not be smooth just like the site topography. If
you want the road to be smooth then use a wall by face that uses a mass surface as a
geometry rig to host a solid element.

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Curved Road (Wall by Face)

Sample and Description

In this section you will be placing a curved helical road along a helical hillside using the wall
element hosted to a mass surface element and placing fencing using repeaters. Also in this
part you will be adding elevation tags and scheduling the length of the road.

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Steps

1. Open the Supporting File called “EX_3B_AU_Curved_road_START.rvt” and go to 3-D

view as shown in the Figure Below

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2. Go to the site plan go to the Site Tab> Split Region. Activate the pick command and pick
grids 8 to 9 and grid D twice. Use the Trim to Corner command to complete the closed
region. The final boundary is shown in the figure below.

3. Go back to the default 3D view and select the “split surface” element, which is now a
separate topography element.

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4. Isolate and export that new topography element as a .dwg. Make sure to not export all
the temporarily hidden elements as shown in the images below. Save the name and use
“EX_3A” in the file name.

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and Site Topography Follow Hardscape in Autodesk® Revit®

5. Create a new in-place mass and insert the newly exported .dwg using origin to origin,
level orient to view. It is also a good idea to change the color to black and white so the
mesh lines are easier to see as shown in the figure below

The .dwg insert should line up perfectly with the site topography element. You know you have it
in the right location when there are many mesh lines that show up as in the Figure below.

Note: You are inserting the .dwg into a mass family because that is the only way mass
spline thru points will be able to pick the edges of another mass family.

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6. Building the Rig

Isolate the in-place mass that contains the .dwg and create another in-place mass; separate
from the one created in the previous step.

You must first build the surface to host the wall by face element. And to do that you must first
build the edge lines to create the surface form.

Click on the spline thru points command change it to a reference line and start clicking the
ends of the boundary mesh as shown. After, a lot of clicking, the final boundary splines should
be completed. Select the lines and click the create form tool. The final surface and boundary
splines should look like the figure below. Finish the in-place mass.

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7. Building the Road!

How? Simply activate the wall by face command and select the mass surface. The new “road”
should look like the figure below.

Note: Why not use a roof by face? Well, a roof by face does not host to a complex shape
such as a helical shaped mass surface rig and only a wall by face tool does; creating a
smooth element. A roof by face will host to a straight road, as was shown in the
previous exercise.

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Curved Railing (Repeater)

Building the fencing that borders the road is easy now that the boundary splines are set up.
You simply use an adaptive component family that contains the fence, divide the boundary
splines using a divide value of 2M (or about 7 feet) and then by using the repeat command
apply the fencing along the divided spline-path. The final image should like the figure below.

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Tagging for Elevation

To add the tags for elevation is simple. The developers allow the divided path nodes (created
in the previous step) to remain visible and pickable in the project environment. So, in order to
tag the elevation of the bottoms of each fence post, for instance, at the exact location where it
meets the topography surface simply activate the elevation tag and place a tag on the divided
path nodes; they are now “snap-able”!

The tagged views should now look something like the following 3D and plan views, below.

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8. Report the Length of Any Curve | Adding ‘Spline Length’ to Report the Road’s
Length

Add a Spline Length to the road: how?

Report the Length of Any Curve: why?

Well, have you ever noticed that when you model a curve in Revit, say in the in-place mass
family editor, and you select the curve; the length displayed in the properties window is greyed
out, as shown in the figure below?

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The Length value is read only, meaning it is not presently reportable.

It shows up as if to tease you. Your only option to get that length into a schedule or to report it
with a parameter -up until the publishing of this article- was for you to physically write down the
length and enter it in manually into a schedule or a parameter. It would be unintelligent and not
very “BIM” like. Well, I am happy to report that this article will show you how to report the length
of any curve or series of curves in Revit 2014. This includes splines, straight lines, and arcs or
any combination of a series of splines, straight lines, and arcs; the previous releases’ Achilles’
heel.

A Path Divided? Yes!

I realized that the Divide Path command has a length that could be made a parameter! It was
this realization that set me on a path to find the solution to this problem. The developers
created the Divide Path command to evenly divide a curve, similar to a divide surface, so
adaptive components could be repeated onto them. Also, the developers do not allow the
length between points to be made a reporting parameter. There is a way around that too;

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however, there is nothing stopping us Revit users, by means of employing a different approach,
to accomplish this task.

This method could be applied to any curve or any series of curves -and its applications are
nearly endless. Therefore, a general method called “The Path Divided Method” presented
below gives seven simple steps that will describe how to create a length parameter on a spline
made up of 4 points. Note again that this method can be applied to any curve or series of
curves.

1. Create a simple spline

Start by opening a new project and start a new in-place mass and name it. Draw a spline by
points as shown in Figure 1. Select the Spline and note that the length is greyed out.

2. Applying the divide path command

With the Spline still selected click the “divide path” command. Change the number of nodes to
2. This will place a node on each end of the spline. The divide path is the key to making the
length reportable.

3. Changing the divide path layout

Select the divided path and change the “layout” to ‘Minimum Distance’ as shown in divide path
properties in Figure 2.

Change the measurement type to “segment length” Note that the ‘minimum distance’ that is
displayed is able to be made into a parameter and it is the true length of the spline!

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4. Creating the “Stand In” or Stunt-Parameter

Click the parameter button next to the ‘minimum distance’ value and create a parameter; call it
“Change Me”. This will be changed later because the minimum distance instance reporting
parameter is greyed out as shown in Figure 3. I don’t know why Revit does not allow the
minimum distance to be an instance reporting parameter but there is a way around that as
shown in the next few steps.

To work around the limitation of the parameter not being able to be defined as a reporting
parameter just simply make a dimension that is a reporting parameter on a sacrificial element
and then change that reporting parameter to the minimum distance parameter. This is shown in
step 5 below.

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5. Creating proxy or sacrificial elements that host the stand in parameter

Create two sacrificial elements that will host the reporting parameter. Place two points
anywhere in the in-place mass environment. Add a dimension between these two points and
add a parameter to that dimension that is an instance reporting parameter. Call it
“Length_Report” as shown in Figure 4.

-Here is where it seems squirrely (AKA: The Trick)-

Change the dimension parameter between the sacrificial elements to “Change_Me”. Now the
length between the nodes that are hosting the reporting parameter and the length of the spline
are the same. This is critical -these need to be equal, in order to change the minimum distance
parameter to a reporting parameter… Note that these elements are called sacrificial because
their only purpose is to create a reporting parameter. You may discard them or hide them once
the reporting parameter is created.

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6. Creating a parameter that reports length of spline

Select that divided path and change the minimum distance parameter to “Length_Report”.

Add the same parameter to the “maximum distance”. Change the “layout” back to “fixed
number” and presto. The length of the spline is now reportable!

7. Creating a shared parameter that reports length of spline

To make this parameter useful in the project environment simply create another Length
Parameter; -make it Shared and call it “Length_01”.

Via the Formula column set it equal to the “Length_Report” parameter. Now anytime the spline
changes length it reports it to the Length_01 parameter. That will now be able to be added to a
schedule or a tag.

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The final results should look like the figure below

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Create hardscape elements that dynamically change so they follow site

topography even if the topography changes & Create hardscape elements that
dynamically change so they follow site topography even if the hardscape
element changes
Curved Road (Wall by Face with Entourage)

Sample and Description

In this section you will be placing a curved helical road along a helical hillside, using a wall
element hosted to a mass surface element. What is unique about this exercise is that it is
similar to the previous exercise; except by adding one additional ingredient to the process you
can make it so the path is movable and will dynamically change with and to the topography.
This dynamic site hosting will work whether the path itself is moved or the topography is
changed to a different shape!

Steps

1. Open the Supporting File called “EX_3C_AU_Curved_road_START.rvt” and go to 3-D

view as shown in the Figure Below

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2. Go to the site plan go to the Site Tab> Split Region. Activate the pick command and pick
grids 8 to 9 and grid D twice (or Split & Trim). Use the Trim to Corner command to
complete the closed region. The final boundary is shown in the figure below.

3. Go back to the default 3D view and select the “split surface” element, which is now a
separate topography element.

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4. Isolate and export that new topography element as a .dwg. Make sure to not export all
the temporarily hidden elements as shown in the images below. Save the name and use
“EX_3A” in the file name.

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and Site Topography Follow Hardscape in Autodesk® Revit®

5. Create a new in-place mass and insert the newly exported .dwg as origin to origin level
orient to view. It is also a good idea to change the color to black and white so the mesh
lines are easier to see as shown in the figure below

The .dwg insert should line up perfectly with the site topography element. You know you have it
in the right location when there are many mesh lines that show up as in the Figure below.

Note: You are inserting the .dwg into a mass family because that is the only way mass
spline thru points will be able to pick the edges of another mass family.

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6. Build the Rig

Isolate the in-place mass that contains the .dwg and create another in-place mass, separate
from the one created in the previous exercise

You must first build the surface to host the wall by face element. And to do that you must first
build the edge lines to create the surface form.

Click on the spline thru points command change it to a reference line and start clicking the
ends of the boundary mesh as shown. After, a lot of clicking, the final boundary splines should
be completed. Select the lines and click the create form tool. The final surface and boundary
splines should look like the figure below. Finish the in-place mass.

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7. Build Entourage Families, build the guides and place the families

Did you say entourage families? Yes, you will use entourage families to host the path
geometry. Why do this? Entourage families and a few others (I prefer entourage families) are
the ONLY, families that host to site topography. Meaning when you place an entourage family
on a site topo it will follow the site topo including if the family is moved. Therefore, if you host
the entire path to entourage families and the entourage families are hosted to the topo then
when the entourage families move the path moves as well all the while following the topo
surface! Also if the site topo were to change then the path that is hosted on the entourage
families will also change!

To build an entourage family that is usable simply open the entourage family titled “Van” then
delete everything and go to the left elevation view. Add a vertical model line that starts at the
origin of the family and extends straight up. Place a parameter on the height and call the
parameter “HT”. Although make a parameter out of the height is not required I prefer to do it so
in the future I am able to adjust the height of my path in the “z” direction. Finally change the
settings of the family to be always “vertical” this will make sure that the family “line” always
points up. Save the file and load it into the project.

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Place Entourage Families Guides

Go back to the project with the helical path and start a new mass family. Add nodes to each
end of the .dwg mesh. The nodes act as guides for the entourage families. Finish the in-place
mass family that should just have nodes. Make sure to make the nodes “visible” or else you will
not be able to see them when you place the entourage families.

Place Entourage Families

Go back to the project with the helical path and place entourage families at every node that you
just placed in the previous step as shown in the figure below.

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8. Build the Rig

The Rig is built slightly different if you want to make the road adjustable!

Instead of hosting the points of the road boundary splines to the imported .dwg edges host the
nodes to the entourage line families that you just placed in the previous step.

Simply host a point anywhere along each line, it doesn’t matter where, as long as they get
hosted; as shown in the Figure below; then make a spline thru points. Note: It is easier if you
isolate the entourage families when doing this step.

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When that is completed, select all the nodes and make a parameter to set the relative location
of the nodes to the bottom of the line or equal to “0” as shown in the figure below.

Note: If you wanted to make a wall simply repeat the process in this step for making a
spline and set the other parameter of the nodes to “1”. Then make a surface between the
top and bottom splines then host the wall to those surfaces. Then when you adjust the
height parameter in the entourage family the height of the wall will also adjust!

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9. Build the Road!

How? Simply activate the wall by face command and select the mass surface. The new “road”
should look like the figure below.

Note: Why not use a roof by face? Well, a roof by face does not host to a complex shape
such as a helical shaped mass surface rig and only a wall by face tool does. A roof by
face will host to the straight road in the previous exercise.

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10. Adjust the Path

The fun part is to now move the path out of its current location from the helical topo and watch
the path dynamically adjust to the topo surface.

To do this go to a 3D top view and simply select all the entourage families that is being used to
“host” the splines that are the boundaries for the road. I found it helpful to place all the families
in a group.

Move the entourage families south and watch what happens. The results are shown in the
figure below.

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Parking Lot (Wall by Face with Entourage)

Sample and Description

Up to this point you have only been exposed to linear elements such as walls or very thin
elements such as roads. You have not been exposed to a wide element such as a parking lot
and now is a good time to introduce you to this because in reality, you will more likely face a
project with parking more often than a helical road. I wanted to ease you into the parking lot
concept after I spent a large amount of time explaining the concepts for the walls and roads.

The parking lot in concept is the same as a road only wider. In this example we will export how
to create a parking lot such that when it is moved it will dynamically adjust to the shape of the
topography or it will adjust if the topography is adjusted. Follow the steps to below to create a
parking lot that dynamically adjusts.

Steps

1. Open the Supporting File called “EX_4_AU_parking_lot_START.rvt” and go to 3-D view

as shown in the Figure Below.

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2. Go to the site plan go to the Site Tab> Split Region. Draw a rectangular
boundary around as shown in the figure below to represent the extents of
the parking lot. The final boundary is shown in the figure below.

3. Go back to the default 3D view and select the “split surface” element, which is now a
separate topography element.

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4. Isolate and export that new topography element as a .dwg. Make sure to not export all
the temporarily hidden elements as shown in the images below. Save the name and use
“EX_4” in the file name.

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5. Undo the split surface command so that there is no “hole” in the site topography
element. Insert the newly exported .dwg as origin to origin level orient to view in the
project environment. It is also a good idea to change the color to black and white so the
mesh lines are easier to see as shown in the figure below

The .dwg insert should line up perfectly with the site topography element. You know you have it
in the right location when there are many mesh lines that show up as in the Figure below.

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and Site Topography Follow Hardscape in Autodesk® Revit®

6. Build Entourage Families, build the guides and place the families

Did you say entourage families? Yes, you will use entourage families to host the path
geometry. Why do this? Entourage families and a few others (I prefer entourage families) are
the ONLY, families that host to site topography. Meaning when you place an entourage family
on a site topo it will follow the site topo including if the family is moved. Therefore, if you host
the entire path to entourage families and the entourage families are hosted to the topo then
when the entourage families move the path moves as well all the while following the topo
surface! Also if the site topo were to change then the path that is hosted on the entourage
families will also change!

To build an entourage family that is usable simply open the entourage family titled “Van” then
delete everything and go to the left elevation view. Add a vertical model line that starts at the
origin of the family and extends straight up. Place a parameter on the height and call the
parameter “HT”. Although make a parameter out of the height is not required I prefer to do it so
in the future I am able to adjust the height of my path in the “z” direction. Finally change the
settings of the family to be always “vertical” this will make sure that the family “line” always
points up. Save the file and load it into the project.

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Place Entourage Families Guides

The only reason that you imported the dwg into the project environment was that the entourage
families have a “guide” or something to “click” or “snap” to. Otherwise these families will not
“snap” to topography. Add one entourage family and array the rest as shown. In this example
there were 44 arrayed families in the long direction and 11 in the short direction of the parking
lot as shown. The amount of families you place is entirely up to you however the more families
the more adaptable the parking lot will be when it is place on undulating topography.

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7. Build the Rig

The Rig is built slightly different if you want to make the road adjustable!

Host the nodes of the splines that will make up the parking lot surface to the entourage line
families that you just placed in the previous step.

Simply host a point anywhere along each line, it doesn’t matter where, as long as they get
hosted; as shown in the Figure below; then make a spline thru points. Select all the splines (as
reference lines) and select “make form” Note: It is easier if you isolate the entourage families
when doing this step.

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When that is completed, select all the nodes and make a parameter to set the relative location
of the nodes to the bottom of the line or equal to “0” as shown in the figure below.

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8. Build the Parking Lot!

How? Simply activate the wall by face command and select the mass surface. The new “road”
should look like the figure below.

Note: You could also add parking stalls, made of simple pipe cross section straight line
extrusions as shown in the figure below.

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9. Adjust the Parking lot

The fun part is to now move the lot out of its current location from the flat part below the helical
path and watch it dynamically adjust to the topo surface.

To do this go to a 3D top view and simply select all the entourage families that is being used to
“host” the splines that are the boundaries for the road. I found it helpful to place all the families
in a group.

Move the entourage families and watch what happens. The results are shown in the figure
below.

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Summary

There is a lot of information above and it will take some time to get familiar with all of it. Just
remember that the fundamental step is to use the exported and re-inserted .dwg that allows
you to get an element that you are able to “pick” or guide the creation of your other elements. It
is simple to use however it may be confusing to keep track of when you import the .dwg file into
the project environment or into an in-place mass. Below is a list to help keep those concepts
organized.

Element to Model Insert .dwg in project or in-place mass?

Floors Project

Roofs by sub element Project

Beams Project

In-place masses In-place mass

Roofs by face In-place mass

Walls by face In-place mass

Walls by profile In-place mass

Parking Lot Project

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Model site topography to match the location and shape of hardscape elements
How to Model Helical Site Topo (Divided Path Method)

Sample and Description

In this section you will be creating a helical mountain using only the site tools. What is the
family secret if the topo tools are not a family? The secret is you use an in-place mass family to
create a try helix as a guide then snap the topo nodes into place that follow the in-place mass
family. The final mountain is shown in the figure below.

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To create a mountain out of the topo tools you first have to create a “guide” family. To do that
follows the steps below.

1. Open the sample topo file or make a new project with a simply flat topo element.

2. Start an in place mass

3. Place a circle at the base of the project and use the grids of the project as a guide.

4. Break the circle into two semi-circles

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5. Select each semi-circle and click “create form” as shown in the figure below.

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6. Simply grab the top end of the extruded half cylinder node and drag to desired height.
Behold, a helix in Revit!

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7. Use the divide command and divide the edges of the in-place mass form to the desired
number of nodes. In this case I used 77 divisions. You could also have built a spline that
followed the edge and divided that spline.

8. The form was just a guide to create the true guides of the topo surface and that is the
divided nodes.

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9. To model the topo simply change to a top down view in 3D and edit the topo and copy
any point to each divided node as shown in the figure below.

10. Place an equal number of nodes at an offset from the others so that the mountain face is
able to slope away from the helical path.

11. Once all the points are copied then change to a 3d elevation view and MOVE each point
to the divided node as shown in the figure below and watch the helical mountain form.

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How to Model Helical Site Topo (Import Method)

Sample and Description

In this section you will be creating a helical mountain using the “Import Method” and it is much
simpler than using the divided path method where you had to move all those points manually.
This method is fast and simple. The final mountain is shown in the figure below.

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and Site Topography Follow Hardscape in Autodesk® Revit®

To create a mountain out of the topo tools you first have to create a “guide” family. To do that
follows the steps below and the first 6 steps are the same as the previous example “divided
path method”.

1. Open the sample topo file or make a new project with a simply flat topo element.

2. Start an in place mass

3. Place a circle at the base of the project and use the grids of the project as a guide.

4. Break the circle into two semi-circles

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5. Select each semi-circle and click “create form” as shown in the figure below.

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 Make Hardscape Follow Site Topography
and Site Topography Follow Hardscape in Autodesk® Revit®

6. Simply grab the top end of the extruded half cylinder node and drag to desired height.
Behold, a helix in Revit!

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7. Instead of dividing the edges, simply draw a curve along each edge using the spline thru
points command and the “follow surface” option turned on. Isolate the edges one at a
time and export them to a dwg file.

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8. Import each edge of the helical path separately so that you now have two dwg files.

9. Here is the amazing part. Select the topography element and select edit surface and
select create from import select one of the imported dwg you should see the topo get
modified to follow the helical edge. Repeat for the other edge and you should have a
topography element that looks like the figure below. Note that this command “import
select” was intended to be used when you create a new topo from scratch but why not
use it to modify. Amazing!! Now let’s look at a more practical example where this would
be useful…. When you want to make topography follow hardscape!

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Size Does Matter: Learn How to Scale
and Morph Families in Autodesk® Revit®

Marcello Sgambelluri – John A. Martin & Associates Structural Engineers

AB3020

Have you ever wanted to scale a family in Autodesk Revit software or were just curious to know how to do
it? This class shows you how! Have you ever noticed that when you select a family in Revit, the “scale”
command is always grayed out? This means that scaling a family in Revit is not as simple as selecting the
family and using the scale command. However this class shows you how to scale any family in Revit by
applying simple scale principles. This class also shows you how to morph a family in Revit because
scaling and morphing are the same phenomenon. There are many ways to scale a family in Revit but the
scaling and morphing methods presented in this class are simple, efficient, practical, unique, and fun and
all are controlled by just 1 parameter each.

Learning Objectives
At the end of this class, you will be able to:

 Create a family where the size or scale could be adjusted through just 1 parameter
 Create a family where morph or the shape could be adjusted through just 1 parameter
 Create a family where scale and morph are combined together and either could be adjusted through
1 parameter each
 Scale families that are in the traditional family editor
 Size Does Matter:
Learn How to Scale and Morph Families in Autodesk® Revit®

About the Speaker

Marcello is the BIM Director at John A. Martin & Associates Structural Engineers in Los
Angeles, CA. He has been using Autodesk products for over 15 years including Revit. Marcello
is the top rated speaker at The Revit Technology and at Autodesk University each year. He also
tests the yearly releases of Revit. He has worked on many large and complex projects including
the Walt Disney Concert Hall in Los Angeles, CA, the Stata Centre at MIT, and the Tom Bradley
International Terminal Expansion at LAX. Marcello received B.S. and M.S. degrees in Civil
Engineering. He is also a licensed Civil and Structural Engineer.

@marcellosgamb
therevitcomplex.blogspot.com
[email protected]

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 Size Does Matter:
Learn How to Scale and Morph Families in Autodesk® Revit®

Table of Contents

Size Does Matter: Learn How to Scale and Morph Families in Autodesk® Revit®...............1
Learning Objectives ...................................................................................................................1
About the Speaker .....................................................................................................................2
Scale Methods .............................................................................................................................4
Scale by Spline ..........................................................................................................................6
Basic Spline ...........................................................................................................................7
Doric Classical Column ..........................................................................................................8
Scale by Planting Family .........................................................................................................14
The Corinthian Column ........................................................................................................14
Scale by Host SAT...................................................................................................................15
Cow ......................................................................................................................................15
How to Model the Revit Cow ................................................................................................20
Intro ......................................................................................................................................20
Scale by Placement .................................................................................................................26
Complex Roof ......................................................................................................................26
Scale by Rail ............................................................................................................................34
Cube.....................................................................................................................................34
Morphing ....................................................................................................................................42
Cube ........................................................................................................................................42
The Revit Pumpkin ..................................................................................................................46
1. Creating profiles ............................................................................................................46
2. Placing profiles..............................................................................................................47
Appendix ....................................................................................................................................55
Scale by Host DWG Table .......................................................................................................55
Sketches ..................................................................................................................................61

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 Size Does Matter:
Learn How to Scale and Morph Families in Autodesk® Revit®

Scale Methods
Have you ever noticed that when you select a family in Revit, the “scale” command is always
greyed out? Why is this? It makes sense for most families in Revit do not need to be scaled but
there are some instances where families need to be scalable such as a classical architectural
column.

As it states in the scale help rollout in the figure below, the only elements that are allowed to be
scaled are lines, walls, DWG, DXF, reference planes, and dimension locations. Nowhere in the
list does it say “families”. Therefore, you are not able to scale a family in Revit using the scale
command but that does not mean that families are not scalable. This class will show you how to
take advantage of these limitations as well as how to apply scaling methods to be able to scale
any family in Revit.

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 Size Does Matter:
Learn How to Scale and Morph Families in Autodesk® Revit®

This handout shows how to scale families in Revit using five methods. The first method is called
“Scale by Spline” and it uses the spline to scale. The second method is called “Scale by Host -
dwg” This method uses a dwg that your family is hosted to and you scale the dwg. The third
method is called “Scale by Host – sat”. This method uses the same principal as previous
method but with sat files as the host. This is used mostly for curved geometry such as the Revit
Cow.

The forth method is called “scale by placement” this scale method uses the characteristics of
the adaptive component points and is only scalable upon placement and not after the fact. The
last method is called “scale by rail” this is the most complex and powerful method of them all.
This method uses the points of the family (the family has to be built in the adaptive or mass
family environment that are hosted onto “rails” or lines that radiate from the origin of the family.

Finally this handout will talk about how to morph a family in Revit using the same principles in
the “scale by rail” method because morphing a family is just the flip side of scaling a family in
Revit.

There are many ways to scale a family in Revit but the scaling methods presented in this lecture
will be simple, efficient, practical, unique and fun so make sure to attend!

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 Size Does Matter:
Learn How to Scale and Morph Families in Autodesk® Revit®

Scale by Spline
The first method is called “Scale by Spline” and it uses the spline to scale families. What do I
mean by spline? I don’t mean the spline thru point’s element that is only in the adaptive
component environment and the mass family environment. I am only referring to the spline
element that is available in all family editors and that has been around for a long time in Revit.
The difference is shown in the figure below.

This is actually the last method I developed for scaling a family and I always knew it existed I
just never put two and two together and realized that the spline has “scale” properties that could
be exploited for scaling. I am sure most of us, if not all of us have noticed that splines scale
“naturally” in Revit. Have you ever taken the end of a spline in Revit and pulled its end? What
happens? The spline will scale proportionally to how far one end is pulled.

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 Size Does Matter:
Learn How to Scale and Morph Families in Autodesk® Revit®

Basic Spline
Consider a spline created with 4 points. The start and end point are at the vertical axis as shown
in the figure below.

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 Size Does Matter:
Learn How to Scale and Morph Families in Autodesk® Revit®

If you take the end of the spline and drag it up from 1000 mm location to 2000 mm location then
the entire spline will scale by 2x! If you wanted the spline to scale 3x then drag the end point up
to 3000 mm and so on. I don’t know why spline behaves in this way; however it is a
characteristic that we could take full advantage of when we need to scale a family. There are
many applications to scale families with this and I would like to demonstrate how to use it to
scale a Doric classical column. The final result looks like the figure below.

Doric Influenced Classical Column

See the figure below,

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 Size Does Matter:
Learn How to Scale and Morph Families in Autodesk® Revit®

Start a new structural column family. Insert the Doric images in the top and bottom of the levels.
Start a revolve solid, and sketch, with a spline, the outline of the Doric column as a boundary.
Start the revolve at the lower level at the center of the column as shown in the sketch below.
End the spline at the upper level at the center of the column. Close the boundary with a vertical
spline as shown.

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 Size Does Matter:
Learn How to Scale and Morph Families in Autodesk® Revit®

Tie the top and the bottom of the spline to the levels.

Activate the dimension and place a dimension from the end of the spline to the upper level line
and LOCK it as shown in the figure below.

Activate the dimension and place a dimension from the end of the spline to the upper level line
and LOCK it as shown in the figure below.

Save the column family.

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 Size Does Matter:
Learn How to Scale and Morph Families in Autodesk® Revit®

Start a new project and draw four grids in each direction as shown in the figure below. Insert the
newly created column family and place them “on grid” at each grid intersection.

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 Size Does Matter:
Learn How to Scale and Morph Families in Autodesk® Revit®

Go to an elevation view and copy level 2 up to make level 3 and level 4 with the same spacing
as level 2. Go to a 3d view and select the columns on grid C and change the top column level to
3 and select the columns on grid B and change the top column level to 4 as shown in the image
below. The columns should scale proportionally.

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 Size Does Matter:
Learn How to Scale and Morph Families in Autodesk® Revit®

Go to the view tab and create a new graphical column schedule. Turn on the shading without
edges and the following will result. The figure shows Scaled Doric Columns in a graphical
column schedule!

Note that the plinth and the abacus (top and bottom) of the Doric column are missing in the
model. Those are “rectangular” shaped elements that do not work well with a revolve. I will be
showing how to scale rectangular families or elements in a later segment.

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 Size Does Matter:
Learn How to Scale and Morph Families in Autodesk® Revit®

Scale by Planting Family

The Corinthian Column
Scaling by planting family is basically a trick that is from http://revitswat.wordpress.com/ where
you simply change or nest the family you want to scale (in the case of the Corinthian column
below) into another planting family or change the category to planting. When the family is
loaded into the project and the preset ht parameter value is changed then the entire family
scales! This is possible because the planting family scales when its ht changes and if you “trick”
Revit into thinking that your family is a “planting” family then it will scale it too! I would
recommend you use this method on very complicated families. The limitations are that this
method requires multiple nesting to get it to scale in a predictable manner and there is little to no
control over the scale origin or fine tune control.

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 Size Does Matter:
Learn How to Scale and Morph Families in Autodesk® Revit®

Having Fun?

Now let’s combine the use of column schedules and scaling by the planting family to make a
graphical telehandler schedule. Why a telehandler? Why not!

Let use consider the telehandler family as shown in the figure below.

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 Size Does Matter:
Learn How to Scale and Morph Families in Autodesk® Revit®

Lets not just scale it lets use it in a graphical column schedule. When I change the category of
the helicopter to “structural columns” then the telehandler shows up in the column schedule.
Want to be adventurous? If there is a particular family that you wanted to make a graphical
(insert family here) column schedule change that family’s category to graphical column
schedule.

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 Size Does Matter:
Learn How to Scale and Morph Families in Autodesk® Revit®

Scale by Host SAT

Cow
In the previous section you saw how to host family elements to a dwg. That works just fine
however it is limited to “non-curved” geometry because curved geometry does not host to dwg
imports very well. I great alternative is using the same procedure except use a .SAT format not
a DWG format. Note that the SAT file format is able to be scaled just like the dwg. What better
way to explain than to use the example of the Revit Cow and scale it up 10 times its original size
as shown in the figure below. Note that the Revit cow’s sole purpose in life was to “host walls” it
was a geometry rig that hosts walls.

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 Size Does Matter:
Learn How to Scale and Morph Families in Autodesk® Revit®

Open up the cow family and isolate the entire cow and export to a SAT file.

Insert that same SAT file with the settings shown then remove the other mass surfaces so only
the SAT file remains.

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 Size Does Matter:
Learn How to Scale and Morph Families in Autodesk® Revit®

Import that SAT only cow family into an empty project. Apply thin walls to all the SAT surfaces
as shown in the figure below.

Select the cow in its entirety and make a copy and move that copy out of the way so we could
create the large cow as shown in the figure below.

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 Size Does Matter:
Learn How to Scale and Morph Families in Autodesk® Revit®

Go back to the SAT and select it and scale it with the scale command 10 times, yes 10 times.
Load it back into the project and

Select the cow and click the “update” walls. Instantly you will see the cow scale to 10 times its
original size!

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 Size Does Matter:
Learn How to Scale and Morph Families in Autodesk® Revit®

For fun you could place window, doors, and floors as shown in the figure below. The windows
and doors host easily because it is a wall element.

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 Size Does Matter:
Learn How to Scale and Morph Families in Autodesk® Revit®

How to Model the Revit Cow

Intro
You will be shown how to model The Revit Cow, shown below, by using a method that takes
advantage of an existing 3D model of a cow. This example uses other software to achieve the
same goal of getting a good working model of a cow.

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 Size Does Matter:
Learn How to Scale and Morph Families in Autodesk® Revit®

1. Instead of getting an existing model from the internet we will take pictures of
a cow and load it into 123 D Catch for Revit and make our own Cow model.
If you do this correctly it will look similar to the figure below. Save the format
into a .obj file. Don’t forget to keep that cow still when you are taking its
picture!

2. Open the .obj file in Max and delete any extra mesh or vertices. Save the
model and export the file as a dwg

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 Size Does Matter:
Learn How to Scale and Morph Families in Autodesk® Revit®

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 Size Does Matter:
Learn How to Scale and Morph Families in Autodesk® Revit®

3. Open Rhino and import the exported cow from Max as a dwg format into
Rhino. Select the dwg (mesh) and use the “mesh to nurbs “command. Draw
a plane that cuts the cow and go to a side view and replicate by array the
planes as shown below. Select the planes and cow and use the “intersect”
command. This will create all the profiles necessary to make a form in Revit.
Notice that the profiles are radial from the back feet to the middle of the
cow. This was set up so that when the form is created in Revit there is less of a
chance of it being successful because there are “smooth” transitions
between each adjacent profile.

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 Size Does Matter:
Learn How to Scale and Morph Families in Autodesk® Revit®

4. Once the cow profiles are imported into Revit. Simply select the spline thru
points command and click the ends of each straight line segment as shown
in the figure below.

5. Repeat for each profile until all the profiles are completed as shown in the
figure below.

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 Size Does Matter:
Learn How to Scale and Morph Families in Autodesk® Revit®

6. With all the reference lines selected click the “create form” button. The final
form is shown in the figure below.

7. Note that this is only one half of the cow. If you want to make the other half
simply mirror the forms at the centerline of the cow and it will create two
halves that make a whole cow as shown in the figure below.

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 Size Does Matter:
Learn How to Scale and Morph Families in Autodesk® Revit®

Scale by Placement
Complex Roof
The difficult part is where to start explaining this method of scaling. Just as it states in the
method “scale by placement” means just that. The family is scaled when it is placed. This
method is limited to the adaptive component family editor but don’t think that the family building
categories are limited.

As a general rule for all you family modellers out there, it is a good idea to build all your families
in the adaptive component editor unless you have a really good reason not to. Since the
adaptive component is a “generic” family you are able to change its category to most families.
This method takes advantage of a characteristic that is inherent to the adaptive components
and the different type of points that exist in the family. Let’s consider the roof in the figure below
and let’s say we want to scale it 2 times its original size.

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 Size Does Matter:
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Since the scale by placement method is based on the relationship between the three different
types of points in the adaptive component family editor lets step back and go over what each
point does. As shown in the figure below there are three possible options a point in the adaptive
component family could be classified as by the user.

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 Size Does Matter:
Learn How to Scale and Morph Families in Autodesk® Revit®

The first one is the reference point. This is the point that we are all used to from the mass family
environment. It is not adaptive in any way and it is not possible to move it once it is nested into
another family or project. Meaning you could see it, if you make it visible, but you cannot select
it and change its position. Next is the Placement Point. This is exactly what is says; when the
adaptive component is inserted into a family or project you are asked where do you want these
points to be placed. Also these points could be selected in the inserted family or hosted to other
element and “adaptive” hence the name, when the hosting element is moved or changed. The
final point, which most Revit users ignore, is the Shape Handle Point.

This point acts like the placement point except you are not asked where to “place” it when you
insert the family. I like to think of the shape handle point as the little brother or sister or sibling to
the placement point. There is a commonly overlooked property of the shape handle point that
we will take advantage of when we scale this roof. The shape handle point will always stay
relative to its older sibling’s location when placed in a project. It is best to show these
characteristics in an example. Let’s go back to the roof element. It is made up of four splines
with 8 points each that create the surface form of the roof as shown in the figure below.

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 Size Does Matter:
Learn How to Scale and Morph Families in Autodesk® Revit®

Set two placement points on level 0 as shown and make them adaptive. Place point 1 at the
origin of the family and place the second point away from the origin by 4572 as shown in the
figure below.

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 Size Does Matter:
Learn How to Scale and Morph Families in Autodesk® Revit®

Go back to the 3d view of the roof surface and isolate every point except the new two placement
points that were just created in the previous step. Change every point to a shape handle point
and do this within the properties box of Revit. The completed family should look like the one
from outside.

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Load the family back into the Revit project that contained this curved roof. Go to the level 1 and
slide the family from the browser and you should be prompted to place the first point. Place the
first point at Grid 5-D and the second at Grid 5-C as shown in the figure below.

This placement will result in a scale factor of 1.00. Go to the 3d view and see that the roof has
not scaled when you select on it as shown in the figure below. The points that you see are the
placement points and the shape handle points.

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 Size Does Matter:
Learn How to Scale and Morph Families in Autodesk® Revit®

Now scale the family up 2x. Go to the level 1 and slide the family from the browser and you
should be prompted to place the first point. Place the first point at Grid 5-D and the second at
Grid 5-B. The placement points have now been place 2 times as far away from each other than
they were originally modelled in the adaptive component. Also the shape handle points also
noticed that the 2 placement points where 2 times apart and so the shape handle points also
moved themselves 2 times relative to the placement points as shown in the figure below.

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 Size Does Matter:
Learn How to Scale and Morph Families in Autodesk® Revit®

If you place another family that is 3 times the original location of the placement points then you
will get a 3 times scale and so on as shown in the figure below.

So now you know how to use the relationship between the shape handle point and the
placement point to make a scale by placement. I don’t know why the developers made this
relationship and I don’t care as long as I am able to take advantage of it to make me scale on
placement. Note that if you made more than two placement points then the shape handle points
would only scale relative to the first and last placement points placed. Also note that all the
geometry that you want to scale must be defined by a point and must not be nested.

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 Size Does Matter:
Learn How to Scale and Morph Families in Autodesk® Revit®

Scale by Rail
Cube
I am very excited to finally show everyone how to scale by rail method. This method is
extremely simple and light and only requires one parameter.

I will first go over scale theory and how it applies to Revit then I will explain how to apply this
method to a simple cube so that everyone will get familiar with the concept. Then I will show
how to apply scale by rail method to the Revit Pumpkin as shown in the figure below. Note that
this method allows you to scale anything that was built in the mass or adaptive component
editors, hence that is how the Corinthian Classical Architectural column was scaled as shown
below.

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 Size Does Matter:
Learn How to Scale and Morph Families in Autodesk® Revit®

Now lets first discuss what is scale theory and how it could be applied to Revit. When you scale
any point in space about its 0,0,0 origin its original location is (x1,y1,z1) its new location is
simply

x2,y2,z2 = (scale factor) X (x1,y1,z1)

Therefore, any point multiplied by its scale factor will follow a straight line from its origin point to
any of its scaled locations as shown in the figure below. In Revit this means any point could
then be hosted to a line and its normalized location on that line could be its scale factor.

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 Size Does Matter:
Learn How to Scale and Morph Families in Autodesk® Revit®

This is best described by an example of a simple cube. First start a new generic adaptive family
and draw 8 points of a cube such that each point is 1000 away from each other as shown in the
figure below.

Then place one point at the origin of the family and draw lines between each point and its origin
point as shown in the figure below.

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 Size Does Matter:
Learn How to Scale and Morph Families in Autodesk® Revit®

The lines represent the “scale rig”. Host points on each line and select all 8 points and make a
parameter for their location and call it “scale”. All the points should now move together if you
select one and slide it along its hosted line as shown in the figure below.

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 Size Does Matter:
Learn How to Scale and Morph Families in Autodesk® Revit®

Draw reference lines between each of these hosted points that would form two squares as
shown in the figure below.

Select the reference lines and click create form. You should now have a cube that is hosted to
those 8 lines as shown in the figure below.

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 Size Does Matter:
Learn How to Scale and Morph Families in Autodesk® Revit®

Select one of the hosted points and the newly formed cube, isolate it, select the single point
again and slide it along the rail. IT SCALES as shown in the figure below!!!!!

It’s very simple and it’s all controlled by 1 parameter!

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 Size Does Matter:
Learn How to Scale and Morph Families in Autodesk® Revit®

It seems simple enough that the cube in the example above was centered on the origin but what
if there was something off centered? The same principle will follow. Let’s consider an
“appendage” off the side of the cube as shown in the figure below.

To scale this simply create the 8 points that define its geometry and place lines between each
point and the original point at the origin of the family. Then, host points to each line and place
the boundary lines between each point isolate the new lines and points and make a parameter
for the hosted location of the point and make it the SAME parameter as the main cube called
“scale” as shown in the figure below.

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 Size Does Matter:
Learn How to Scale and Morph Families in Autodesk® Revit®

Turn everything on and select one of the hosted points and slide it along the hosted “rails” and
watch it scale! This method also works for elements that are nested into families..

If you wanted to nest an element into this family then follow the steps above with the
“appendage” and then simply insert it into the family at its origin

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 Size Does Matter:
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Morphing
Cube
Morphing is simply the flip side to scaling. If there was no translation or rotation then they are
actually the same thing. Morphing simply means that something is changing shape. As is the
case of “scale” its just change shape that is the same relative location from start to finish.
Therefore, if we want to scale in Revit we could use the same principles as scale.

Its easy! Consider that cube in the previous scale section. Remove two of the point’s
parameters as shown in the figure below.

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 Size Does Matter:
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Select any one of the points that has a parameter and slide it along its rail. What do you see? Is
it a new shape? Is it a morphed shape as shown in the figure below?

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 Size Does Matter:
Learn How to Scale and Morph Families in Autodesk® Revit®

Morphing is much more than just moving a few points around. It is changing something into
something else. As you see from just one profile of the Revit pumpkin that it could morph from a
“face profile on the left” to a straight line in the right. To do this just add lines between the start
and end shapes, it also helps to have the same number of points, and host points onto that line
and make a parameter that drive that location of the points. Place a line thru those points shown
in red, flex and morph. That is not even the greatest part.

It is possible to make scale and morph together! To do this simply make the profile on the left
scalable by connecting lines from the origin to all the points that make up the profile, do the
same for the line profile in the right. Now you have made a scale and morph as shown in the
figure below.

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A great example to see how this is all placed together see the Revit pumpkin at ½ morph in the
image below.

This image shows the pumpkin almost at 90% to the straight line morph.

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The Revit Pumpkin

In this section we will learn how to model the Revit pumpkin.

1. Creating profiles
Open up a new adaptive component family. Insert an image in the left
view of the elevations. Sketch in profile 1 first using the spline thru points
command. It should look similar to the figure below. I chose not to follow
the shape of the face exactly since I was already using the
“approximate” method. Also the face was just a guide.

Create the rest of the profiles 2, 3, 4, 5, and 6 in the same view using the
same method described above.

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Note: I recommend creating all the profiles in the SAME 2D view because
it is much easier to model the subtle differences using profiles. I you are
having a hard time creating the profiles use the previous profile and
modify it to be slightly different.

2. Placing profiles
a. Now that the profiles are finished create the reference planes that
will house the profiles. Open up a new another generic adaptive
family, switch to the plane ref view and save the name as
“pumpkin”.rvt. The profiles in 2d should like the figure below.

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b. Create reference lines in a radial pattern and place the profiles with
the dimensions shown. The profiles will be located at 5 degrees
intervals except profile 3 and 4 where they are located 2.5 degrees
off of profile 2 as shown in the figure below.

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c. Copy profile 1 and paste it into the new adaptive family. Since the
profiles were built in the “left” elevation view then all the profiles will
need to be separately pasted into the plan view and “rotated” into
place. There is no need to adjust profile 1 because it was modeled
in the wrong position. The figure below shows a summary of this
process.

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d. Copy profile 2 and paste into the Revit family called “pumpkin”.
Repeat this process until all the profiles are created. The 3D view of
the 6 profiles is shown in the figure below.

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e. Go back to the plan view and copy and mirror all the 6 profiles

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3. Creating the form of the face

Select the 13 splines shown in the figure below that were selected
and click “create form” bottom. Copy the form that uses the 13
profiles and create a form of your own.

The final shapes will the look like the image of the pumpkin heads shown in the figure
below.

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Appendix
Scale by Host DWG Table
The scale by dwg is a special scale method because it utilizes a dwg format that is not common
in Revit. However a dwg is allowed to be scaled and elements are allowed to be “hosted” to a
dwg and when the dwg is scaled then the hosted element is also scaled. Therefore the method
of hosting a family onto a dwg will be demonstrated by using a simple table family. The good
thing about using this method is that it works in BOTH that classical family editor as is the case
with the furniture family, and the adaptive and mass family environment.

See final scale in figure below

First start a new family and open the “furniture” family. In plan draw an extrusion of the table top
that is 1000 wide and 2000 long as shown in the figure below. Center the table top is necessary.
Make the table top 100 deep. Move the top and bottom extrusion so that the top of the table is
440 off the level 0.

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Next create the legs of the table and make four legs centerd on the table top as shown in the
figure below. Make the legs 250 square and make the top of the legs meet the underside of the
table and the bottom of the legs meet the level 0 location.

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Next export the table, first isolate it, as a dwg as shown in the figure below.

Insert the dwg back into the family using the setting shown in the figure below.

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Always verify that the dwg is in the same location as the family by selecting the imported link as
shown in the figure below.

Host the family elements or the extrusions to the dwg. First host the table top. Go to the top
view and simply select grab handle and slide them out and back to the dwg edge and lock them.
Do this for every edge of the table top including the top, bottom, left side and right side as
shown in the figure below.

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Follow the same procedure to host the family extrusion onto the dwg for the feet of the table
family as you did for the table top. The final image showing all the “locked/hosted” elements are
shown in the figure below.

The family is ready to scale. Simply select the dwg and click the scale command on the ribbon.
Notice that the scale command is NOT greyed out when you have a dwg selected. Scale the
dwg and the hosted extrusion scales with it! Select the dwg and turn off its visibility since you
probably do not want the dwg showing in the project environment.

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Note that the “scale factor” parameter in the type properties of an imported dwg that is shown in
the figure below IS BROKEN. This means that this scale factor parameter does not work in the
project environment so don’t waste your time. Perhaps this is one of the developer’s ways of
having users not use imported dwg but that is not stopping us. The scale factor parameter
works only in the family editor however even then you need to “nudge” the dwg import to get its
host to scale.

Sketches

I thought I would show some of the sketches I made in my notebook while documenting these
scaling and morphing methods. These are just provided as “for your information” and nothing
else.

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Advanced Autodesk® Revit® Modeling Techniques
Using Complex Geometry: Walls, Floors, Roofs, and
Beams
Marcello Sgambelluri – John A. Martin Structural Engineers

AB3741

This class will cover advanced modeling techniques in Autodesk Revit software by using unconventional
modeling elements to "guide" the creation of complex geometry. This is done by using everyday
commands and elements within the project environment to create complex walls, floors, roofs, and
beams that support and follow the contours of complex forms from curved undulating roofs and site
topography to extremely complex organic animal shapes. At the end of the class, attendees will have the
knowledge to model any extremely complex wall, floor, roof, and beam.

Learning Objectives
At the end of this class, you will be able to:

 Create complex walls, floors, roofs, and beams that follow the shape of any roof surface

 Create walls that exactly follow the contours of any site topography

 Apply the intersection method to model complex geometry

 Apply new techniques of modeling complex geometry to any form including organic, free-form
shapes

About the Speaker

Marcello is the BIM Director at John A. Martin & Associates Structural Engineers in Los Angeles, CA. He
has been using Autodesk products for over 15 years including AutoCAD, 3ds Max, and Revit. He is a
member of the ASCE-SEI BIM committee and continually speaks at structural professional conferences
across the country. Marcello teaches classes regularly at Autodesk University and the Revit Technology
conference that focuses on free form modeling in Revit and he beta tests the yearly releases of Revit.
He has worked on many projects that incorporated complex geometry including the Walt Disney Concert
Hall in Los Angeles, CA, the Stata Center at MIT, and the Tom Bradley International Terminal Expansion
at the LAX. Marcello received B.S. and M.S. degrees in Civil Engineering and is a licensed Civil and
Structural Engineer
 Advanced Autodesk® Revit® Modeling Techniques Using Complex Geometry:
Walls, Floors, Roofs, and Beams

Introduction
Let’s admit it; modeling complex geometry in Revit has always been difficult. This is because
Revit has lacked modeling tools and commands that have been the staple for other 3D
modeling programs, such as 3DS MAX. With the introduction of the new mass modeling tools in
Revit 2010 this has changed somewhat. However, modeling complex geometry on “real” non-
mass elements such as walls, floors and beams is still difficult in Revit…until now. This handout
will describe how to model complex roofs, walls, beams, and floors by using the pick by face
command and by finding the intersections of their surfaces.

The Sample Roof Surface

Let us consider the following in-place mass surface shown in the figure below. This surface
consists of four planar reference lines. The spline by points command was used to create the
reference line and the surface was created by creating a form over those reference lines. This
in-place mass surface will be used throughout this class/handout.

Complex In-Place Mass Roof Surface

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 Advanced Autodesk® Revit® Modeling Techniques Using Complex Geometry:
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The Intersection Method

Picking the intersection of two surfaces
Revit has no simple command that allows you to “find” or “pick” the intersection of two surfaces.
However, there is a phenomenon in Revit whereas if you “join” any two solids together, they
result in a new entity whereas the edges of those entities are “pickable”. To illustrate this
method, let’s create a sacrificial wall at the same location as the wall shown in Figure 9. Join the
wall and the roof surface. Notice that the roof surface now has new edges where the wall profile
line is located. Select the wall you want to apply the profile to. Select edit profile. Select “pick”
line and select the new edge of the bottom of the roof. The result is the same as shown in the
previous figure. As mentioned above, this method, I call “the intersection method”, is extremely
powerful. Let’s now apply it to beam framing on the roof surface.

Picking the intersection of two surfaces

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 Advanced Autodesk® Revit® Modeling Techniques Using Complex Geometry:
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NOTE: The sole purpose of modeling reference planes, reference lines, and reference points is
to use them as “guides” to model other Revit elements such as gridlines, walls, etc. However,
there is nothing preventing you from using Revit elements such as walls and slabs as “guide
entities” either. I call these elements sacrificial elements because they are to be used and
discarded at a later time. In fact, using sacrificial walls and slabs as “guide entities” is
sometimes the only way to model complex elements.

Creating Beams that Curve in Two Directions

The following method below describes how to place beams that curve in one direction using the
standard structural beam > pick command and the intersection method.

Determine in what plane the curved beam will be located and place a vertical sacrificial wall
whose face lines up with the plane of the curved beam. This vertical wall is used as a “guide
entity” as described earlier and may be discarded later

Join the vertical wall to the roof using the “join” command. Note that when the wall and the roof
are joined then the wall “cuts” out a portion of the roof as shown in the figure below.

Repeat the above steps for all beam locations and final roof surface should look similar to the
figure below.

Roof Solid With all Wall joins before beams are placed

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 Advanced Autodesk® Revit® Modeling Techniques Using Complex Geometry:
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Before a beam is placed the work plane has to be defined. Simply set the work plane to the face
of the wall solid.

To place the beam, activate the beam > “pick” command and pick the intersection of the vertical
wall and the roof surface as shown in the figure.

Repeat these steps until all the beams are placed. The final roof framing should look similar to
the previous figure.

Note: If the mass surface changed the wall by face will change to match the change, just click
on the “modify by face” command. However, the beam hosted onto the wall element will not
change. If you wanted to make the beam change you would have to place the beam on the
mass surface edge using the pick command. If you would rather place the beam on the wall
then you would have to use an adaptive component to make the beam change when the
wall/mass surface was modified.

3D-View of Final Beam Framing

Note: Sometimes the roof surface is too complex and a structural beam family cannot be
created when using the pick command. In these rare cases use an in-place mass and create a
beam cross section/profile.

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Creating the top of the wall to follow the roof surface

Next let’s build a wall to the underside of the roof surface. All you do is build a wall in its desired
location, select it, click on the “attach top/base” and select the roof element. The resulting
geometry is shown in the figure below. This seems simple enough. However, this attachment
method is limited to a roof surface and a vertical wall surface because a vertical wall will only
attach to a roof element. What do you do if a wall element was used instead of a roof element
as described in the previous section? Use the intersection method and edit the wall profile and
follow the steps above similar to the beam curved in one direction. The results should look like
the figure below.

3D-View of Top of Wall Following Roof/Wall

Creating Beams that Curve in Two Directions (Using In-Place Masses)

To create a beam that curves in two directions you will need to use an in-place mass because
the Revit structural beam family can only curve in one direction. Let’s use the intersection
method to preform this task. The key to understanding the intersection method is to understand
that only the edge of the intersections of surfaces are used as shown in the figure below. This
means that any “edge” will serve as the “pick” line or work line for a beam.

Note: the intersection method also works if a void is used instead of solid because this
effectivey cuts the mass roof surface and produced the “edge” needed to place the beam. Once
the work line is esablished then a beam profile or cross section will need to be created.

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Placing the beam Profile on the Work Line

1. Edit the “in-place mass” command.
2. Model a curved wall as a mass and join to the roof as shown in the figure below.
3. Draw a reference spline by points on the edge using two points and using the “follow
surface” option
4. Add a reference point at the intersection line of the curved wall and beam to host the
beam profile.

The Mass Extrusion Line

Note: Revit does not simply allow you to assign a beam profile to the in-place mass. A profile of
the wide flange beam has to be built in the mass family editor and then nested into the in-place
mass, then extruded along an extrusion line.

5. Create a beam profile by starting a new conceptual mass family and in the plan view
create a beam profile using only lines.

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6. Add parameters to these lines and create different family types for as many wide flange
beam types as you like. If may be easier to create parameters that match the structural
beam family. That way the entire beam family types could be built by using the type
selection “.txt” file. The final beam profile is shown in the figure below.

In-Place Mass Beam Profile

7. Place the in-place mass beam profile “wx” section on the reference point.
8. Select the beam profile and tab select the beam workline/intersection line of the curved
wall and roof and click “create form”
9. The final beam should look like the figure below.

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In-Place Mass Beam Curved in Two-Directions

Note: In-place mass families are very limited because they are essentially only good for 3D
modeling. They do not have any analytical lines, they do not schedule easily and they do not
show up correctly in plan views. See the next section on how to correct this last issue. I would
recommend that you only use in-place masses as beams if the use of a structural beam family
is not possible due to the complexity of the geometry.

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Creating Beams that Curve in Two Directions (Spiral or Helix)

To create a beam that curves in two directions you will need to use an in-place mass as stated
before. I thought it would be good to also include how to create a spiral and a helix in Revit
since it is NOT one of the geometry options in the draw tools. Why is a spiral not in the draw
tools? I don’t know but follow these steps and it will allow you to create (a true) one.

1. Start an inplace mass

2. Place a circle at the base of the project

3. Break the circle into two semi-circles

4. Select each semi-circle and click “create form”

5. Simply grab the top end of the extruded half cylinder node and drag to desired height.
Behold, a spiral in Revit!

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Walls, Floors, Roofs, and Beams

6. Use the top edge of the newly shaped spiral to create a reference line using the “follow
surface” option similar to the method shown above.

7. What if you want to create a spiral with varying diameter? Simply just drag that node that
was selected earlier and instead of dragging up drag it toward the center of the circle.

8. Results are below

Spiral Beam in Revit

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Topography
Creating Walls That Follow Site Topography Contours
Let’s use a modified version of the intersection method principles, shown earlier, to create a
planar wall in Revit whose bottom follows the contours of a site topography element as shown in
the figure. There are many ways to do this; however I found that this method below is the fastest
way to create a wall that follows the contours without leaving the Revit program. Take the
following steps below to create a wall whose profile will follow the site topography contours.

Even though a wall’s profile is used in this example, this principle could be applied to a number
of other elements including, curbs, pipes, etc..

1. Add a building pad where the edge is at the centerline of wall shown in the figure below.
Make sure that the building pad is lower in elevation than the site topography.
a. Note that no elements will “join” with the site topography so a modified
“intersection” method will have to be used.
b. Note that a building pad will “cut” a site topography element and therefore a
building pad will be used as the “sacrificial” element.
c. Notice that a new site topography element that just contains the boundary of the
cut made from the building pad is created. It is this phenomenon that we will take
advantage of.
2. Simply select the “new topography” element that contains the boundary and export it as
a Dwg and save as a new name.
3. Add an in-place mass and insert the newly exported Dwg as origin to origin level 1 orient
to view
a. This will place the new site topography element as a dwg and will allow its edge
to be “pickable”.
4. Add a wall by picking the edge of original building pad and extend the top limits to any
desired height. In the case shown in the figure below, it is shown stepped.
5. Edit the wall profile and pick the edge of the inserted Dwg/in place mass and trim the
edges as shown in the figure below.

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Site Wall following contours of site topography

Cut in site topography and new site topography element

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Wall profile and pickable lines

Note: This method works on complex site topography as well as shown in the image below.

Complex Site Topography Element with wall applied using intersection method

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Creating complex Geometry using the Revit Cow

Floor outlines using the intersection method
Next, let’s create a floor element inside of the Revit Cow ( yes a cow) and use the newly applied
wall by face as the boundary. The following steps illustrate how to do this.

1. Create a wide and thick sacrificial floor surface at the desired location of the floor and
make that floor location the current work plane. In this case it will be about halfway up
the cow’s body.

2. Join the cow wall and floor.

3. With the floor active as the work plan, create a new floor and click on the “pick” line tool.

4. Select the edge of the newly created joined wall.

5. Complete the sketch so the floor boundary creates a closed loop.

6. Click finish. The final product should look like the figure below.

Floor element using Cow as boundary

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Creating complex beam geometry using the intersection method

Finally let’s see how modeling complex beam geometry using the intersection method will look
on the Revit Cow. Follow the steps given in the previous section and the following geometry will
result as shown in the figure below.

Structural Beams applied to the Revit Cow

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Walls, Floors, Roofs, and Beams

Scaling the Revit Cow from Scratch

There is a way to scale an adaptive component family in Revit extremely fast, even ones as
complex as the Revit Cow; this class will show how to scale the Revit Cow from scratch in 10
minutes. See results in the image below.

Conclusion
Hopefully, after reading this handout you are able to take away some tips on how to model
complex roofs, walls, floors and beams. Apply these methods to your projects at the office,
especially the intersection method, and I am sure you will be ready to tackle any complicated
geometry the client could throw at you. Tell them to hit you with their best shot. Good luck.

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Session 5

Revit Family Modelling Secrets Revealed!

Marcello Sgambelluri, John Martin Structural Engineers Inc.

Class Description
Secrets will be revealed on how to model geometrically complex
families in the mass family editor and the adaptive component editor in
this class by using the Revit Pumpkin, Cow, Jet airplane and other
families as samples. Learn how to model complex organic geometry
from scratch
Learn how to model parametric relationships
Learn how to animate geometry through parameters
Revit Family Modeling Secrets Revealed!
Marcello Sgambelluri, John Martin Structural Engineers Inc.

About the Speaker:

Marcello is the BIM Director at John A. Martin & Associates Structural
Engineers in Los Angeles, CA. He has been using Autodesk products for
over 15 years including AutoCAD, 3ds Max, and Revit. Marcello is a top
rated speaker at The Revit Technology and at Autodesk University each
year. He also beta tests the yearly releases of Revit. He has worked on
many projects that have incorporated complex geometry including
the Walt Disney Concert Hall in Los Angeles, CA, the Stata Centre at
MIT, and the Tom Bradley International Terminal Expansion at LAX.
Marcello received B.S. and M.S. degrees in Civil Engineering. He is also
a licensed Civil and Structural Engineer.

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Marcello Sgambelluri, John Martin Structural Engineers Inc.

Class Outline
 Jet Engine

 Helix and Site Topo Helix

 Length of Spline

 Rotation and Kinetics of Family

 Revit Pumpkin

 Revit Cow

Introduction
There are many more “secrets” in family building that I wanted to add
into this handout and class but I am only able to show so many before I
run out of time. Perhaps there will be a Family Secrets Revealed “part
2” in the future. These “secrets” that I show I created to help me model
each specific each specific family, however these concepts are
presented in a general format such that they could be applied to
many other families and not just the ones I show in the handout.

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Revit Family Modeling Secrets Revealed!
Marcello Sgambelluri, John Martin Structural Engineers Inc.

Jet Engine
The following will show how to make the shape of the jet engine. The jet
engine was used as part of the 747 jumbo jet modeled in Revit in the
figure below.

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Revit Family Modeling Secrets Revealed!
Marcello Sgambelluri, John Martin Structural Engineers Inc.

How do you make a 747 engine when the profiles are selected result in the following
form?

Well, the developers did not allow profile order to be selected when creating a form.
So should you give up? Wait for the developers to add that feature? NO, take
matters into your own hands, and create the form, them MOVE THE PROFILE! Follow
the steps below to achieve this.

1. Open the file “747 PROFILE.RFA”

2. Create solid

3. Project profile 2 on solid

4. Select profile 1, 2, and 3

5. Move solid into profile 2

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Revit Family Modeling Secrets Revealed!
Marcello Sgambelluri, John Martin Structural Engineers Inc.

Helix and Site Topo Helix

Sample and Description

In this section you will be creating a helical mountain using only the site
tools. What is the family secret if the topo tools are not a family? The
secret is you use an in-place mass family to create a try helix as a guide
then snap the topo nodes into place that follow the in-place mass
family. The final mountain is shown in the figure below.

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Revit Family Modeling Secrets Revealed!
Marcello Sgambelluri, John Martin Structural Engineers Inc.

To create a mountain out of the topo tools you first have to create a
“guide” family. To do that follows the steps below.
1. Open the sample topo file or make a new project with a simply
flat topo element.
2. Start an in place mass
3. Place a circle at the base of the project and use the grids of the
project as a guide.
4. Break the circle into two semi-circles

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5. Select each semi-circle and click “create form” as shown in the

figure below.

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6. Simply grab the top end of the extruded half cylinder node and
drag to desired height. Behold, a helix in Revit!

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7. Use the divide command and divide the edges of the in-place
mass form to the desired number of nodes. In this case I used 77
divisions. You could also have built a spline that followed the
edge and divided that spline.
8. The form was just a guide to create the true guides of the topo
surface and that is the divided nodes.

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9. To model the topo simply change to a top down view in 3D and

edit the topo and copy any point to each divided node as
shown in the figure below.

10. Place an equal number of nodes at an offset from the others so

that the mountain face is able to slope away from the helical
path.

11. Once all the points are copied then change to a 3d elevation
view and MOVE each point to the divided node as shown in the
figure below and watch the helical mountain form.

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Length of Spline
Sample and Description

In this section we will be creating a spline that has a reportable length

and the following will describe the process in a general sense. I leave it
up to the attendees and readers of this handout to apply these
methods to their own application. Need help? One such application is
presented at the end of this section and applied to a wall that is
unfolded in elevation.

What do you mean Report the Length of Any Curve?

Have you ever noticed that when you model a curve in Revit, say in
the in-place mass family editor, and you select the curve; the length
displayed in the properties window is greyed out, as shown in the figure
below.

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The length value is read only. That means it is not reportable. It shows
up as if to tease you. Your only option to get that length into a
schedule or to report it with a parameter -up until the publishing of this
article- was for you to physically write down the length and enter it in
manually into a schedule or a parameter. It would be unintelligent and
not very “BIM” like. Well, I am happy to report that this article will show
you how to report the length of any curve or series of curves in Revit
2014. This includes splines, straight lines, and arcs or any combination of
a series of splines, straight lines, and arcs; the previous releases’
Achilles’ heel.

A Path Divided? Yes!

I realized that the Divide Path command has a length that could be
made a parameter! It was this realization that set me on a path to find
the solution to this problem. The developers created the Divide Path
command to evenly divide a curve, similar to a divide surface, so
adaptive components could be repeated onto them. Also, the
developers do not allow the length between points to be made a
reporting parameter. There is a way around that too; however, there is
nothing stopping us Revit users, by means of employing a different
approach, to accomplish this task.

This method could be applied to any curve or any series of curves -and
its applications are nearly endless. Therefore, a general method called
“The Path Divided Method” presented below gives seven simple steps
that will describe how to create a length parameter on a spline made
up of 4 points. Note again that this method can be applied to any
curve or series of curves.

Create a simple spline

Start by opening a new project and start a new in-place mass and
name it. Draw a spline by points as shown in the figure above. Select
the Spline and note that the length is greyed out.

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Applying the divide path command

With the Spline still selected click the “divide path” command. Change
the number of nodes to 2. This will place a node on each end of the
spline. The divide path is the key to making the length reportable.

Changing the divide path layout

Select the divided path and change the “layout” to ‘Minimum
Distance’ as shown in divide path properties in the figure below.
Change the measurement type to “segment length” Note that the
‘minimum distance’ that is displayed is able to be made into a
parameter and it is the true length of the spline!

Creating the “Stand In” or Stunt-Parameter

Click the parameter button next to the ‘minimum distance’ value and
create a parameter; call it “Change Me”. This will be changed later
because the minimum distance instance reporting parameter is greyed
out as shown in the figure above. I don’t know why Revit does not
allow the minimum distance to be an instance reporting parameter but
there is a way around that as shown in the next few steps.

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To work around the limitation of the parameter not being able to be

defined as a reporting parameter just simply make a dimension that is
a reporting parameter on a sacrificial element and then change that
reporting parameter to the minimum distance parameter. This is shown
in the step below.

Creating proxy or sacrificial elements that host the stand in parameter

Create two sacrificial elements that will host the reporting parameter.
Place two points anywhere in the in-place mass environment. Add a
dimension between these two points and add a parameter to that
dimension that is an instance reporting parameter. Call it
“Length_Report” as shown in the figure below.
-Here is where it seems squirrely (AKA: The Trick)-
Change the dimension parameter between the sacrificial elements to
“Change_Me”. Now the length between the nodes that are hosting
the reporting parameter and the length of the spline are the same. This
is critical -these need to be equal, in order to change the minimum
distance parameter to a reporting parameter… Note that these
elements are called sacrificial because their only purpose is to create a
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reporting parameter. You may discard them or hide them once the
reporting parameter is created.

Creating a parameter that reports length of spline

Select that divided path and change the minimum distance
parameter to “Length_Report”.
Add the same parameter to the “maximum distance”. Change the
“layout” back to “fixed number” and presto. The length of the spline is
now reportable!

Creating a shared parameter that reports length of spline

To make this parameter useful in the project environment simply create
another Length Parameter; -make it Shared and call it “Length_01”.
Via the Formula column set it equal to the “Length_Report” parameter.
Now anytime the spline changes length it reports it to the Length_01
parameter. That will now be able to be added to a schedule or a tag.

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Expanded Elevations: Unrolling the Curved Wall

The Path Divided Method can also be applied in such a way as to

flatten out a curved wall. The curved and unrolled walls in this example
are hosted by face onto “geometry in-place mass surfaces”.

The only real challenge is finding the length of the wall and with the
method described above it is easy. Follow the steps below to make the
bottom edge of the wall and the side edges of the wall into reportable
length dimensions and then create a wall that is flattened or
“unrolled”.

i. First create the curved wall by creating an in-place mass surface.

Draw a spline with four points on any level. Select the spline and
select the “create form” command. This will create a surface that
will serve as a “geometry rig” for the curved wall.
ii. Go to the project environment and place a wall by face on the in-
place mass surface.

iii. Edit the mass surface again and select the bottom edge of the
wall rig. While the bottom edge is selected active the divide
command and follow steps above to create a spline that has a
reportable length. Note that divide path could also be applied to
edges, in this case wall edges, as well as curves.

iv. Now create the unrolled wall by creating a rectangle in the same
in-place mass editor as the previous step. Apply the bottom
parameter and side parameters to the length and height at each
end of the rectangle. Host a wall to this surface. The final unrolled
wall should look similar to the figure below.

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v. If you want to create wall opening then follow the steps above to
create length and width parameters for the curved and unrolled
wall openings.

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Rotation and Kinetics

Sample and Description

I built this construction lift family to help understand how a virtual lift
would “fit” inside of a particular building. This lift was built per
manufacture specifications. Follow the steps below to make this lift
family movable!

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You will be making the lift family movable by hosting points onto circles.
This is known as “ride the rail” method. As shown above in the rotation
rig, the Ride the Rail method does not use the angular dimension to
control the angle of the hosting reference line. It uses the power of the
reference point to “ride” the “rail” of the circle or curve to control the
angle.

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Creating the Base Rotation Rig within the lift family

1. Open the file that has the bottom family as shown in the figure
above.
2. Isolate the Reference line in top down view as shown

3. Set the work plane of the isolated reference line

4. Create a reference circle at the end of the isolated ref line
5. Place two points anywhere on the circle

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6. Change the measurement type to “angle” in the properties for

both points

7. Set the following parameters to the first point “RIDE THE RAIL”

8. Set the following parameters to the first point “RIDE THE RAIL PLUS
180”

9. Select both points and click “spline thru points” and change new
line to “reference line” (this is the new hosting reference line)

10. Congratulations! The Ride the Rail rotation rig is complete.

Note: even though this method was applied to a complex family it

could be used to rotation anything within the adaptive
component/mass editor family environment.

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11. Set the Horizontal work plane of the new reference line
12. Place the nested lift family “TOP.RFA” as work plane based at the
middle of the reference line
13. Map the nested lift family parameters to the host family as shown
above.

14. Flex and enjoy. Take this family with you and practice! What
other rotation angles could be applied to this Ride the Rail rig?

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What about the rest of the family? See below how to make the “bones”
of the upper part of the family.

To make the bones simply create a circle on each successive rotation

point and make the element span between these points such that the
final rotation rigs or “bones” are shown in the figure below.

1. First hide the top part of the lift family then set reference plane to
the reference point’s plane that is parallel to the screen of the
computer, Note that in Revit 2013 if the reference plane of the
base reference line was used instead of the point, the boom
element would be off in the distance.

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2. Draw a reference circle whose center is on the first center of

rotation. Then draw a circle where the radius as large as the
next closest rotation point as shown in the figure below.

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3. Continue to draw circles at each node as shown in the previous

step until all the joint locations have nodes with reference circles.

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4. Adding Angle Parameters

To add an angle parameter to each swing rig select the hosted
node on the circle and change the measurement type to angle
and assign or create an angle parameter as shown in the figure
below.

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5. Adding length parameters

To add length parameter, do not use an aligned dimension. Take
advantage of the rotational rigs that were just created. Since
each segment of “arm” spans from hosted nod to hosted node
then to make the “arm” longer just make the radius of the circle
a parameter as shown in the figure below.

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6. Adding limits to parameters

Since this is a piece of construction equipment then there will
need to be some limits on the parameters that were just
assigned. These booms are not allowed to move past a certain
point as shown in the specifications. Therefore, it is important to
add some sort of limitations to the parameters. There are two
ways to do this. The method, that is controlled by equations and
the method that is controlled by the arc length of the circle.
a. Limits by Equation:
Replace the recently assigned parameters with a new
parameter, I typlically use the name “limit” in the name.
Then in the equation of the parameter list the following
limits as shown below.

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a. Limits by Arc Length:

Use the “break” command and click twice on the
reference circle. Take the ends of the reference circle and
place each of them at the true limits of the angle, arm
swing, limits as shown below. Presto! Instant angle limits!
Repeat for all reference circles.

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The Revit Pumpkin

Sample and Description
In this section we will learn how to model the Revit pumpkin.

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Create Profiles of Pumpkin Face

1. Creating profiles
Open up a new adaptive component family. Insert an image in
the left view of the elevations. Sketch in profile 1 first using the
spline thru points command. It should look similar to the figure
below. I chose not to follow the shape of the face exactly since I
was already using the “approximate” method. Also the face was
just a guide.

Create the rest of the profiles 2, 3, 4, 5, and 6 in the same view

using the same method described above.

Note: I recommend creating all the profiles in the SAME 2D view

because it is much easier to model the subtle differences using
profiles. I you are having a hard time creating the profiles use
the previous profile and modify it to be slightly different.

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2. Placing Profiles
a. Now that the profiles are finished create the reference
planes that will house the profiles. Open up a new another
generic adaptive family, switch to the plane ref view and
save the name as “pumpkin”.rvt. The profiles in 2d should
like the figure below.

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b. Create reference lines in a radial pattern and place the

profiles with the dimensions shown. The profiles will be
located at 5 degrees intervals except profile 3 and 4
where they are located 2.5 degrees off of profile 2 as
shown in the figure below.

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c. Copy profile 1 and paste it into the new adaptive family.

Since the profiles were built in the “left” elevation view
then all the profiles will need to be separately pasted into
the plan view and “rotated” into place. There is no need
to adjust profile 1 because it was modeled in the wrong
position. The figure below shows a summary of this process.

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d. Copy profile 2 and paste into the Revit family called

“pumpkin”. Repeat this process until all the profiles are
created. The 3D view of the 6 profiles is shown in the figure
below.

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e. Go back to the plan view and copy and mirror all the 6
profiles

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3. Creating the form of the face

Select the 13 splines shown in the figure below that were
selected and click “create form” bottom. Copy the form
that uses the 13 profiles and create a form of your own.

The final shapes will the look like the image of the pumpkin heads
shown in the figure below.

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Cow
Sample and Description
You will be shown how to model The Revit Cow, shown below, by using
a method that takes advantage of an existing 3D model of a cow. This
example uses other software to achieve the same goal of getting a
good working model of a cow.

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1. Instead of getting an existing model from the internet we will take

pictures of a cow and load it into 123 D Catch for Revit and make
our own Cow model. If you do this correctly it will look similar to the
figure below. Save the format into a .obj file.

2. Open the .obj file in Max and delete any extra mesh or vertices.
Save the model and export the file as a dwg

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3. Open Rhino and import the exported cow from Max as a dwg
format into Rhino. Select the dwg (mesh) and use the “mesh to
nurbs “command. Draw a plane that cuts the cow and go to a side
view and replicate by array the planes as shown below. Select the
planes and cow and use the “intersect” command. This will create
all the profiles necessary to make a form in Revit. Notice that the
profiles are radial from the back feet to the middle of the cow. This
was set up so that when the form is created in Revit there is less of a
chance of it being successful because there are “smooth”
transitions between each adjacent profile.

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4. Once the cow profiles are imported into Revit. Simply select the
spline thru points command and click the ends of each straight line
segment as shown in the figure below.

5. Repeat for each profile until all the profiles are completed as shown
in the figure below.

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6. With all the reference lines selected click the “create form” button.
The final form is shown in the figure below.

7. Note that this is only one half of the cow. If you want to make the
other half simply mirror the forms at the centreline of the cow and it
will create two halves that make a whole cow as shown in the figure
below.

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Marcello Sgambelluri, John Martin Structural Engineers Inc.

Session 3

Power Points & Power Plays:

Using Adaptive Component points to drive

your Revit families
Marcello Sgambelluri, John A. Martin & Associates

Class Description
Say goodbye to the old static and non‐interactive families that we are
used to in Revit and say hello to the new dynamic adaptive
components. The adaptive component is the newest type of family to
hit the Revit scene. Available since Revit 2011, and updated in each
successive Revit version, the adaptive component family has the ability
to use “smart points” that could be manipulated and dragged to
change parameters or other associations.

The developers created the adaptive component to be smart enough

to be nested into other families and to “adapt” as the host family
parameters change. Because of the adaptive component’s smart
nature its applications are endless. This course will teach attendees
how create adaptive components to be intelligent enough so that
they could be interacted with by the user or by other families.

This session will take advantage of the divide command and repeater
element new in Revit 2013. This course will also cover how to use points
to drive rotation parameters by hosting points on circles. This method is
called “Ride the Rail Method”

This handout also covers two alternative rotation methods in the “post
lab” section that are based on the theory of the ride the rail method. It
will not be covered in the lab but it could be practiced after the class is
over at home or in the office. The post labs cover two alternative
rotation methods that could be applied in the “classic” family editor.

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About the Speaker:

Marcello is the BIM Director at John A. Martin & Associates Structural
Engineers in Los Angeles, CA. He has been using Autodesk products for
over 15 years including AutoCAD, 3ds Max, and Revit Structure. He is a
member of the ASCE-SEI BIM committee and continually speaks at
structural professional conferences across the country. Marcello
teaches classes regularly at Autodesk University and the Revit
Technology Conference that focus on free form modelling in Revit and
alpha/beta tests the yearly releases of Revit Structure. He has worked
on many projects that have incorporated complex geometry including
the Walt Disney Concert Hall in Los Angeles, CA, the Stata Centre at
MIT, and the Tom Bradley International Terminal Expansion at LAX.
Marcello received B.S. and M.S. degrees in Civil Engineering. He is also
a licensed Civil and Structural Engineer.

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Lab Outline

Lab Exercise 1 – Dropped Ceiling –Divide Path- Repeater

 Example and Description
 Introduction: Divide and Repeat
 Building Support Geometry
 Create a Divide
 Create a Simple Adaptive Component
 Create a Repeater Element
 Create a Complex Adaptive Component
 Update the Repeater
 Modifying the Geometry

Lab Exercise 2 –Roof Beams- Divided Surface - Repeater

 Create a Divided Surface
 Create a 13 point adaptive component
 Create a Repeater Element
 Flexing Roof Geometry, using adaptive shape handle points

Lab Exercise 3 – Ride the Rail Method

 History
 Example and Description
 Build Rotation Rig
 Flexing Rig and Family Parameters

Post Lab Exercise 1 –Open Reference Circle Method

 History
 Example and Description
 Build Rotation Rig

Post Lab Exercise 2 – Revolve Method

 History
 Example and Description
 Build Rotation Rig

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Power Points & Power Plays: Using Adaptive
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Marcello Sgambelluri, John Martin Structural Engineers Inc

Introduction
The adaptive component is the newest type of family to hit the Revit
scene. Available since Revit 2011, the adaptive component family was
mainly intended to be used in curtain wall panels or some other
repetitive application. The developers created the adaptive
component to be smart enough to be nested into other families and to
“adapt” as the host family parameters change. Because of the
adaptive component’s smart nature, its applications are endless.

This lab will teach attendees several key aspects, including how to nest
the adaptive component family into other families and how to change
the host family’s parameter values by simply grabbing and dragging
points or by pressing the arrow keys.

Say goodbye to old methods of changing family parameter values by

manual entry or using the limiting “shape handles”.

The adaptive component is created in the mass family editor

environment and uses a generic family as its basis.

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Marcello Sgambelluri, John Martin Structural Engineers Inc
Lab Exercise 1 (Dropped Ceiling)

Figure 1 (Dropped Ceiling Isometric View, Courtesy of P+R Architects, Long Beach)

Figure 2 (Dropped Ceiling RCP View, Courtesy of P+R Architects, Long Beach)

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Figure 1B (Final Dropped Ceiling Component Created in Revit)

Divide and Repeat Command

The Divide Command

Divide Path allows the user to simply select and divide lines, arcs,
circles, partial ellipses, ellipses, splines, Hermite curves, and edges of
forms, in the mass (or adaptive component) environment into any
desired number of segments as shown in Figure 3. Dividing an element
is nothing new; users have always had the ability to divide a surface
into a “grid” since the new massing tools were introduced in Revit 2010.
See Figure 4.

Figure 3 (The divided path)

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Figure 4 (The divided surface)

What is new is that the Divide Path command allows you to divide line
elements instead of only dividing surface elements; this is this same
concept, just expanded on. The divided surface elements and the
divided path elements have the same properties, including number of
divisions, node visibilities, intersections, and the ability to host other
elements at their nodes.

Creating a Divided Path

Creating a divided path is extremely easy! Create any line in the mass
family environment, adaptive component environment, or in-place
mass environment, Select the “curve” and click on the “Divide Path”
command as shown in Figure 5.

Figure 5 (The Divide Path Command)

A new element will be created called the “divided path” that “hosts”
divided nodes along its length. It is important not the get the divided
nodes confused with the reference points.

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This new divided path element is completely separate from the curve
that was used to create the divided path. This is the same concept as
the divided surface element being independent of the mass surface
that was used to create it.

Repeat Command
A repeater is a separate element that is simply a collection of adaptive
components that is repeated along a divided path or divided surface.
Previously, if the user wanted to create repeating components they
would have to copy them manually… not anymore! The repeat
command takes the busy work out of copying multiple components.

To create a repeater or to use the repeat command, the user must

have a minimum of one divided path or divided surface and one
adaptive component with at least one placement point.

First, create a divided curve or curves as shown in Figure 6. Create an

adaptive component that is made up of a simple cylinder to represent
a column. This adaptive component contains only one placement
point. Place or host the adaptive components placement point on the
divided path’s node as shown in Figure 6. Select the adaptive
component and select the repeat command shown in Figure 7.

Figure 6 (Placing a Component on a Divided Path)

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Figure 7 (Repeater Pattern with 1 Component on a Divided Path with Varying Nodes)

Other Possible Combinations to Create a Repeater

Figure 8 shows all possible repeaters that are results from the
combination of a simple, single line, 2 placement point
adaptive component and divided elements.

Figure 8 (Repeater Patterns Resulting from 2 Placement Point Adaptive Components)

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Marcello Sgambelluri, John Martin Structural Engineers Inc
Lab Exercise 1

Build Support Geometry for Complex Divided Paths

The complex divided paths in this example are paths that curve in
multiple directions. The following steps will show how to create these
paths by finding the intersection of solids created from extrusions, using
the boundary lines of the ceiling in plan, shown in Figure 9 and the
boundary lines of the ceiling in elevation, shown in Figure 10. This is
illustrates the divided path line of the near side ‘wave’ in Figure 11. This
exercise will use “sacrificial“ solids instead of using surfaces, because in
Revit if two solids are joined together, then the resulting intersection of
those solids creates a new “form edge”; surfaces do not give those
results. It is this new form edge that will be used to the divided path.
The final divided paths are shown in Figure 12.

Figure 9 (Spline geometry for RCP view)

Figure 10 (Spline geometry for ISO view)

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Figure 11 (Divided Path Line/Edge of ceiling, nearside, as intersection of surfaces)

1. Open the Supporting File called “EX_1_reflected plan repeater

rtc_start.rfa” and go to 3-D view as shown in the Figure Below

Figure 12 (Divided Path Line/Edge of ceiling, nearside, as intersection of surfaces)

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Marcello Sgambelluri, John Martin Structural Engineers Inc
2. Click on the nearside surface/face and extrude the face until a
solid is created as shown in the Figure below.

Figure 13 (Divided Path Line/Edge of ceiling, nearside, as intersection of surfaces)

3. Join the two solids together and select the new form edge and
click on the divide path command as shown in the Figure below.

Figure 14 (Divided Path Line/Edge of ceiling, nearside, as intersection of surfaces)

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Marcello Sgambelluri, John Martin Structural Engineers Inc
4. Hide the near side solids and follow steps 2 and 3 to create the
far side divided path.

5. Change the number of segments to 58 for both paths as shown

in the Figure below. The reason for 58 points is because there will
be 58 components evenly spaced along these paths. Also in
order for the repeater command to work correctly in this
example, each path has to have an equal amount of points.

Figure 15 (Divided Paths with segments shown)

Create Simple Adaptive Component

Let’s create a simple two placement point adaptive component to

apply to the divided path. It is best to create a “line” or simple
adaptive component to test. Then apply a solid element to the line.
This is recommended because it is easy to trouble shoot any issues that
may arise when using the repeater command.

1. To start a new adaptive component go to

Revit>New>Family>Generic Model Adaptive.rft

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Marcello Sgambelluri, John Martin Structural Engineers Inc

1. Go to plan reference level and draw 2 reference points

anywhere and draw a reference spline thru those points. This will
act as the path line for the ceiling components.

2. Change 2 points to adaptive component points

a. Select points Click “make adaptive”
b. This changes the points from reference points to adaptive
placement points. Notice the points are now labelled 1,2
c. These will act at the “placement points” when inserting this
family into the divided path.
3. Save the adaptive component file.

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Marcello Sgambelluri, John Martin Structural Engineers Inc

Create Repeater

Let’s now load that simple 2 placement point adaptive component

into the divided path and create a repeater.

1. Load Adaptive Component into the project.

a. Open family with divided paths

b. Load family into divided path family

2. Place the adaptive component such that point 1 on the near

side divided path and point 2 on far side divided path point

3. Place another adaptive component adjacent to the previous

placed one.

4. Click on both adaptive components and click the repeater

command.

5. WOW! Behold the Repeater!

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Marcello Sgambelluri, John Martin Structural Engineers Inc

Create Complex Adaptive Component

Now that the repeater is working correctly lets create an adaptive

component that is representative of the dropped ceiling. It is very
important that the following steps are followed when creating the cross
sections of the components. If done incorrectly, the components,
when repeated, will not function properly.

1. Make a cross section of the pipe.

2. Open or change back to the 3d view of the two point adaptive

component.

3. Set the work plane to the point 1 reference plane that is

perpendicular to the line and add a circle to point 1 that has a
125mm or 5” radius. Change the circle to a reference line.

4. Repeat the previous step for point 2.

5. Select both circles and select create form

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Marcello Sgambelluri, John Martin Structural Engineers Inc
6. Select both adaptive points and change the node orientation to
“orthogonal to family”. This is done to keep the cross sections
from rotating and the family from “twisting” relative to the
divided path nodes.

Update Repeater with Completed Component

Load the completed adaptive component into the family with the
divided path and update the repeater!

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Marcello Sgambelluri, John Martin Structural Engineers Inc
Modify the Divided Path Geometry
One major advantage of the repeater is, the fact that it’s based on the
adaptive component; any changes to the base geometry will change
the repeater accordingly. Suppose, the far side divided path needed
to be changed to “straight”. Follow the steps below to see results.
1. Unhide the solids and delete the points as shown to “straighten”
the far side divided path as shown

2. The following modifications are shown below.

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Marcello Sgambelluri, John Martin Structural Engineers Inc
Lab Exercise 2 – Create Roof Framing
Now that you have the basics down for the adaptive components and
you know how to make a repeater that extends from one divided path
to another divided path, let’s now examine how to apply an adaptive
component on a divided surface to create a quick roof framing mesh.
We will also cover how to and use the shape handle point to change
geometry.

Create the Divided Surface

1. Create the guide surface

a. Revit>Open> EX_2_ROOF_GEOMETRY_FAMILY_START.rfa

b. Notice that the adaptive component family only contains

splines and reference points that define these splines as
well as four columns to support the roof framing.

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2. Click on four splines and click “create form, the resulting surface
is created.

3. Select all the 32 points and click “make adaptive”. These points
will later be used to change the geometry via mouse drag!
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4. Select the newly created surface and click “divide surface” and
change the u and v divide amount to 12.

5. In order to place the adaptive component onto the divided

surface, we must turn on the nodes on the surface by selecting
the surface and clicking on the “surface representation” button.
Click on the “node” button. This will display the surface nodes.
These divided surface nodes are the same nodes used in the
divided path element.

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Create a 13 point adaptive component (pipe beams)

Just like in the previous exercise, it is very important that the ensuing
steps are followed when creating the cross sections of the
components. If done incorrectly, the components, when repeated, will
not function properly.

1. To start a new adaptive component go to

Revit>New>Family>Generic Model Adaptive.rft

2. Go to plan reference level and draw 13 reference points in a

single line and draw a reference spline thru those points. This will
act as the path line for the beam components.

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3. Change all 13 points to adaptive component points

a. Select points Click “make adaptive”
b. This changes the points from reference points to adaptive
placement points.
c. These will act at the “placement points” when inserting this
family into the divided path.

4. Set the work plane to the point 1 reference plane that is

perpendicular to the line and add a circle to point 1 that has a
125mm or 5” radius. Change the circle to a reference line.

5. Repeat the previous step for point 13.

6. Select both circles and select create form

7. Select both adaptive points and change the node orientation to

“orthogonal to family”. This is done to keep the cross sections
from rotating and the family from “twisting” relative to the
divided path nodes.
8. Save the adaptive component

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Marcello Sgambelluri, John Martin Structural Engineers Inc
Create Repeater on Divided Surface

Let us now load and place the 13 point adaptive component on a

divided surface and use the repeater command to populate all the
beam locations.

1. Open and load the 13 point family into the roof family

2. Place the all 13 points of the adaptive pipe component on the

divided surface in the U direction as shown.

3. Repeat for the V direction as shown.

4. Click on both adaptive components and click the repeater

command.

5. WOW! Behold the Repeater on a divided surface!

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Marcello Sgambelluri, John Martin Structural Engineers Inc

Flexing the shape handle points with mouse drag in the

project environment

Now that we have seen how to create a repeater on a divided surface

lets modify the geometry of the roof component by loading it into a
project environment. Instead of deleting or moving nodes within the
family itself to modify the geometry, as we did in the previous exercise,
let’s take advantage of the smart nature of the adaptive component
and do it differently for this exercise.

1. Load the adaptive roof surface family into the project

environment and place it on level 1.

2. Experiment changing the geometry by simple mouse drag.

a. Carefully select one of the shape handle nodes and move

it up in elevation. See how the repeater framing, and the
divided surface all automatically update.

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b. These nodes could also be “re-hosted” to other project
elements.

c. In this exercise, build a column approximately at the

centre of the roof and that starts at level 1 and is just tall
enough to reach above the roof framing.

d. Next carefully select one of the shape handle nodes in

roughly the same location and click “re-host”

e. Drag the node to the top of the column.

f. Adjust the height of the column.

g. See how the roof framing automatically updates with the

new hosted column top?!

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Marcello Sgambelluri, John Martin Structural Engineers Inc

Lab Exercise 1 – Ride the Rail Method

History

As shown above in the rotation rig, the Ride the Rail method does not
use the angular dimension to control the angle of the hosting
reference line. It uses the power of the reference point to “ride” the
“rail” of the circle or curve to control the angle.

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Power Points & Power Plays: Using Adaptive
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Marcello Sgambelluri, John Martin Structural Engineers Inc

Example and Description

Figure 1(The Revit Lift Family)

I built this construction lift family to help understand how a virtual lift
would “fit” inside of a particular building. This lift was built per
manufacture specifications. When I originally built this family, I did not
invent the “Ride the Rail” method yet so all 18 or so rotation rigs are
built off of the traditional rotation method. I thought it would be good
to change the “base” rotation rig into a Ride the Rail rig. This is what
exercise 1 will cover.

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Power Points & Power Plays: Using Adaptive
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Marcello Sgambelluri, John Martin Structural Engineers Inc
Creating the Base Rotation Rig within the lift family

1. Open the file “EX_1_LIFT_BOTTOM_START.RFA”

2. Isolate the Reference line in top down view as shown

3. Set the work plane of the isolated reference line

4. Create a reference circle at the end of the isolated ref line
5. Place two points anywhere on the circle

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Marcello Sgambelluri, John Martin Structural Engineers Inc

6. Change the measurement type to “angle” in the properties for

both points

7. Set the following parameters to the first point “RIDE THE RAIL”

8. Set the following parameters to the first point “RIDE THE RAIL PLUS
180”

9. Select both points and click “spline thru points” and change new
line to “reference line” (this is the new hosting reference line)

10. Congratulations! The Ride the Rail rotation rig is complete.

Note: even though this method was applied to a complex

family it could be used to rotation anything within the
adaptive component/mass editor family environment.

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11. Set the Horizontal work plane of the new reference line
12. Place the nested lift family “TOP.RFA” as work plane based at the
middle of the reference line
13. Map the nested lift family parameters to the host family as shown
above.

14. Flex and enjoy. Take this family with you and practice! What
other rotation angles could be applied to this Ride the Rail rig?

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Marcello Sgambelluri, John Martin Structural Engineers Inc

Post Lab Exercise 1 Open Reference Circle Method

History

I realized that the whole concept of ride the rail method was based
not on the point but the reference plane of the point. I then made the
connection…open up the circle and host the reference line on the
reference plane at the end of the open reference circle.

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From this, I created the “Open Reference Circle” rotation method as

shown in the rotation rig above and notice that it uses the arc angle of
the open circle to control the angle NOT the angle parameter.

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Marcello Sgambelluri, John Martin Structural Engineers Inc

Example and Description

Below is a step by step process on how to create the Open Reference

Circle rig to control rotation for a door family in Revit. Above is the
example Door family at different angles that are hosted on a wall
element in the project environment that is using the Open Reference
Circle rotation rig.

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Marcello Sgambelluri, John Martin Structural Engineers Inc
Creating the Rotation Rig within the door family

1. First start a new door family from the default family template in
Revit. Go to the reference plan view.
2. Create a reference circle whose centre is set away from the
centre of rotation

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3. Turn on the centre of the circle mark. Developers please turn it
on by default.

4. Align and lock the centre of the circle mark to the horizontal
reference plane
5. Align and lock the centre of the circle mark to the vertical
reference plane

Note that in the step above the circle centre was placed
away from the centre of rotation so that it would be easy
to confirm that it was aligned in the correct location

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6. Split the circle with the split tool

7. Delete the portion of the circle to create

8. Align and lock the tail end of the open circle to the horizontal
axis

9. Select the open circle.

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Marcello Sgambelluri, John Martin Structural Engineers Inc
Note that when the open circle/arc is selected a
interesting element pops up that is not available anywhere
else in Revit…..the arc degree dimension! It is this
phenomenon that I took advantage of in order for the
Open Reference Circle method to work.
Select the arc angle dimension and make it permanent
Please note that the arc angle is NOT the arc length

As shown above, do not get the arc angle and arc length confused.
They are two completely difference dimensions. The difference is that
the arc angle is able to be converted to a parameter that is
CHANGEABLE. In contrast to the arch length, the arch length is a
reporting parameter only, meaning it is only able to “show” the length
value and not able to be changed.

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10. Create two angle parameters

11. Create an angle parameter called “INPUT_ANGLE”. This will be

used as the input angle, what is traditionally used to define how
“open” a door is. I like to use the arc angle to control the back
side of the angle instead of the front because it is easier to work
with.

12. Create another angle parameter called “ANGLE_180_FIX” it is

the true arc angle.

13. Give it a formula = 180-INPUT_ANGLE

14. Assign the “ANGLE_180_FIX” parameter to the arc angle

parameter

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Marcello Sgambelluri, John Martin Structural Engineers Inc

15. Make the radius of the open circle a permanent dimension. This
is done to further constrain the open circle. It is also very critical
that it is done at this step and not any other time.

16. Set the work plane to the end of the open circle, this is done so
that the reference line that will host the door geometry is placed
at the correct plane.

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Marcello Sgambelluri, John Martin Structural Engineers Inc

17. Draw a reference line on the set work plane from the open circle
end to the centre of rotation of the open circle.

18. Congratulations! The Open Reference Circle rotation rig is now

complete.

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Marcello Sgambelluri, John Martin Structural Engineers Inc

19. Set the reference plane of the host reference line to receive the
door geometry, create the door geometry on the hosting
reference line. How to create the door geometry will not be
covered in this posting however, it is very simple to perform.

Note: The door family was covered here however; this

method is applicable to host any geometry, in any family, in
any environment.

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Power Points & Power Plays: Using Adaptive
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Marcello Sgambelluri, John Martin Structural Engineers Inc
Post Lab Exercise 2 Revolve Method

History
The Open Reference Circle method as shown in the previous exercise
will not work when the value of the arc angle is zero because it is not
allowed to have a zero length. However, if the length were to never
change then the problem would be solved.

It was this fundamental concept that had me realize that the Revolve
element (which is one of the four forms that could be created in the
classic family editor) could have a constant angle value and have its
start and end angles move together. This would allow the arc angle to
never be zero. As shown above the end of the revolve element could
be defined as a work plane similar to the point on Ride the Rail method
and the reference plane on the Open Reference Circle method.

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Marcello Sgambelluri, John Martin Structural Engineers Inc

From this, I created the “Revolve” rotation method as shown in the

rotation rig above and notice that it uses the preset revolve form
parameters of the start and end angles to control the angle NOT the
angle parameter. Basically it is the Open Reference Circle method with
the revolve element swapped out for the reference arc. This way, the
revolve element could be a constant arc length/angle and the end
angle is “chasing” its start angle. This is not possible with the reference
arc element in the Open Reference Circle method and that is why a
revolve element is used because it is not plagued with the limitation of
having the arc angle value break when it has a zero value.

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Marcello Sgambelluri, John Martin Structural Engineers Inc

Example and Description

Above is the example Door family at different angles that are hosted
on a wall element in the project environment that is using the Open
Reference Circle rotation rig. Any angle is now possible. Below is a step
by step process on how to create the Revolve rig to control a door
family in Revit.

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Marcello Sgambelluri, John Martin Structural Engineers Inc

1. First start a new door family from the default family template in
Revit. Go to the reference plan view.
2. Set the reference plane to exterior. This will host the revolve
profile

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Marcello Sgambelluri, John Martin Structural Engineers Inc

3. Create a rectangular profile where the top of the profile is at the

floor line
4. Select the revolve axis line as the vertical reference plane that
intersects the centre of rotation. Click ok when done and the
revolve element will be created.
5. Click on the revolve element and make it “not” visible. This will
make the revolve element not visible in the project environment.

Note: this element could be left as “visible” and be

changed to look like a door handle instead of how the
revolve element looks in this example.

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6. Create two angle parameters

7. Create an angle parameter called “INPUT” This will be used as
the input angle, what is traditionally used to define how “open”
a door is. I like to use the end angle to control the back side of
the angle instead of the front because it is easier to work with
8. Create another angle parameter called “START” and give it the
formula as shown above
9. Create another angle parameter called “END” and give it the
formula as shown above.
10. Assign the “START” and “END” parameter to the start and end
preset parameters of the revolve element respectfully.

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11. Go to the top down 3d view and set the work plane to the end
of the revolve element, this is done so that the reference line that
will host the door geometry is placed at the correct plane.

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12. Create a reference line by picking the face of the end of the
revolve element.

13. Congratulations! The Revolve rotation rig is now complete.

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14. Set the reference plane of the host reference line to receive the
door geometry, create the door geometry on the hosting
reference line.
15. The door geometry will not be covered in this posting however; it
is very simple to perform.
16. MAKE IT A DOOR KNOB

Note: The door family was covered here however; this

method is applicable to host any geometry, in any classic
family editor.

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Marcello Sgambelluri, John Martin Structural Engineers Inc
Final words
This lab was intended to show what potential the adaptive component
has to the attendees and not cover every type of possible application.
Now that Revit allows repeaters and smart points that could be hosted
the possibilities are endless to what this could be used for. It’s time to
get creative! Good luck.

These post labs were intended to offer “alternatives” to traditional

rotation rig modelling methods in Revit and provide the general theory
behind these new methods by applying these new methods on sample
families. However, the theory is what is important and you may need a
different application of these new methods at the work place since
every project and family is unique. I encourage everyone to practice
these new methods, understand the underlying theories, decide if they
are a viable alternative for your situation and apply them accordingly.

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Ride the Rails:

New Ways to build Rotation Parameters

within families to make moveable Parts!
Marcello Sgambelluri, John A. Martin & Associates

Class Description
Learn the new methodology to build rotation parameters within Revit
families to make movable parts.

Forget everything you learned about rotation parameters using

reference lines and the angular dimension command because the
new methods taught in this course will show that it is not necessary
anymore

This course will first cover the “Ride the Rail” method by harnessing the
power of hosting points onto circles so they are able to stably control
rotation parameters within the mass family environment. This new
method will be applied to a complex family.

Next this course covers two new methods called the “Open Reference
Circle” method and the “Revolve” method and applying them to a
door family using the classic family editor.

All attendees of this course will also be given a real working

construction equipment family to experiment with and apply their new
found knowledge on.

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Ride the Rails: New Ways to build Rotation

Marcello Sgambelluri, John Martin Structural Engineers Inc.

About the Speaker:

Marcello is the BIM Director at John A. Martin & Associates Structural
Engineers in Los Angeles, CA. He has been using Autodesk products for
over 15 years including AutoCAD, 3ds Max, and Revit Structure. He is a
member of the ASCE-SEI BIM committee and continually speaks at
structural professional conferences across the country. Marcello
teaches classes regularly at Autodesk University and the Revit
Technology Conference that focus on free form modelling in Revit and
alpha/beta tests the yearly releases of Revit Structure. He has worked
on many projects that have incorporated complex geometry including
the Walt Disney Concert Hall in Los Angeles, CA, the Stata Centre at
MIT, and the Tom Bradley International Terminal Expansion at LAX.
Marcello received B.S. and M.S. degrees in Civil Engineering. He is also
a licensed Civil and Structural Engineer.

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Ride the Rails: New Ways to build Rotation

Marcello Sgambelluri, John Martin Structural Engineers Inc.

Lab Outline

Lab Exercise 1 – Ride the Rail Method

 History
 Example and Description
 Build Rotation Rig
 Flexing Rig and Family Parameters

Lab Exercise 2 –Open Reference Circle Method

 History
 Example and Description
 Build Rotation Rig
 Flexing Rig and Family Parameters

Lab Exercise 3 – Revolve Method

 History
 Example and Description
 Build Rotation Rig
 Flexing Rig and Family Parameters

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Ride the Rails: New Ways to build Rotation

Marcello Sgambelluri, John Martin Structural Engineers Inc.

Introduction
I have created three alternative methods to create rotation rigs that
do not use the angular dimension

The traditional method, shown in the rig above, uses the angular
dimension command. There are also variations of this, some that use
only two reference lines not three, etc. I have created three methods
that completely avoid the angular dimension. They are called “Ride
the Rail” method for use in the mass and adaptive component family
environment the “Open Reference Circle” method for use in the classic
family environment and the “Revolve” method for use in the classic
family environment. I will not go into why I created these methods
other than to say that I wanted to create an alternative to using the
angular dimension within a rotation rig. Each method will be covered in
examples.

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Ride the Rails: New Ways to build Rotation

Marcello Sgambelluri, John Martin Structural Engineers Inc.

Lab Exercise 1 – Ride the Rail Method

History

As shown above in the rotation rig, the Ride the Rail method does not
use the angular dimension to control the angle of the hosting
reference line. It uses the power of the reference point to “ride” the
“rail” of the circle or curve to control the angle.

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Ride the Rails: New Ways to build Rotation

Marcello Sgambelluri, John Martin Structural Engineers Inc.

Example and Description

Figure 1(The Revit Lift Family)

I built this construction lift family to help understand how a virtual lift
would “fit” inside of a particular building. This lift was built per
manufacture specifications. When I originally built this family, I did not
invent the “Ride the Rail” method yet so all 18 or so rotation rigs are
built off of the traditional rotation method. I thought it would be good
to change the “base” rotation rig into a Ride the Rail rig. This is what
exercise 1 will cover.

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Ride the Rails: New Ways to build Rotation

Marcello Sgambelluri, John Martin Structural Engineers Inc.

Creating the Base Rotation Rig within the lift family

1. Open the file “EX_1_LIFT_BOTTOM_START.RFA”

2. Isolate the Reference line in top down view as shown

3. Set the work plane of the isolated reference line

4. Create a reference circle at the end of the isolated ref line
5. Place two points anywhere on the circle

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Marcello Sgambelluri, John Martin Structural Engineers Inc.

6. Change the measurement type to “angle” in the properties for

both points

7. Set the following parameters to the first point “RIDE THE RAIL”

8. Set the following parameters to the first point “RIDE THE RAIL PLUS
180”

9. Select both points and click “spline thru points” and change new
line to “reference line” (this is the new hosting reference line)

10. Congratulations! The Ride the Rail rotation rig is complete.

Note: even though this method was applied to a complex

family it could be used to rotation anything within the
adaptive component/mass editor family environment.

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Marcello Sgambelluri, John Martin Structural Engineers Inc.

11. Set the Horizontal work plane of the new reference line
12. Place the nested lift family “TOP.RFA” as work plane based at the
middle of the reference line
13. Map the nested lift family parameters to the host family as shown
above.

14. Flex and enjoy. Take this family with you and practice! What
other rotation angles could be applied to this Ride the Rail rig?

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Ride the Rails: New Ways to build Rotation

Marcello Sgambelluri, John Martin Structural Engineers Inc.

Lab Exercise 2 Open Reference Circle Method

History

I realized that the whole concept of ride the rail method was based
not on the point but the reference plane of the point. I then made the
connection…open up the circle and host the reference line on the
reference plane at the end of the open reference circle.

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Ride the Rails: New Ways to build Rotation

Marcello Sgambelluri, John Martin Structural Engineers Inc.

From this, I created the “Open Reference Circle” rotation method as

shown in the rotation rig above and notice that it uses the arc angle of
the open circle to control the angle NOT the angle parameter.

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Ride the Rails: New Ways to build Rotation

Marcello Sgambelluri, John Martin Structural Engineers Inc.

Example and Description

Below is a step by step process on how to create the Open Reference

Circle rig to control rotation for a door family in Revit. Above is the
example Door family at different angles that are hosted on a wall
element in the project environment that is using the Open Reference
Circle rotation rig.

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Ride the Rails: New Ways to build Rotation

Marcello Sgambelluri, John Martin Structural Engineers Inc.

Creating the Rotation Rig within the door family

1. First start a new door family from the default family template in
Revit. Go to the reference plan view.

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Marcello Sgambelluri, John Martin Structural Engineers Inc.

2. Create a reference circle whose centre is set away from the

centre of rotation
3. Turn on the centre of the circle mark. Developers please turn it
on by default.

4. Align and lock the centre of the circle mark to the horizontal
reference plane
5. Align and lock the centre of the circle mark to the vertical
reference plane

Note that in the step above the circle centre was placed
away from the centre of rotation so that it would be easy
to confirm that it was aligned in the correct location

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Ride the Rails: New Ways to build Rotation

Marcello Sgambelluri, John Martin Structural Engineers Inc.

6. Split the circle with the split tool

7. Delete the portion of the circle to create

8. Align and lock the tail end of the open circle to the horizontal
axis

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Ride the Rails: New Ways to build Rotation

Marcello Sgambelluri, John Martin Structural Engineers Inc.

9. Select the open circle.

Note that when the open circle/arc is selected a
interesting element pops up that is not available anywhere
else in Revit…..the arc degree dimension! It is this
phenomenon that I took advantage of in order for the
Open Reference Circle method to work.
Select the arc angle dimension and make it permanent
Please note that the arc angle is NOT the arc length

As shown above, do not get the arc angle and arc length confused.
They are two completely difference dimensions. The difference is that
the arc angle is able to be converted to a parameter that is
CHANGEABLE. In contrast to the arch length, the arch length is a
reporting parameter only, meaning it is only able to “show” the length
value and not able to be changed.
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Marcello Sgambelluri, John Martin Structural Engineers Inc.

10. Create two angle parameters

11. Create an angle parameter called “INPUT_ANGLE”. This will be

used as the input angle, what is traditionally used to define how
“open” a door is. I like to use the arc angle to control the back
side of the angle instead of the front because it is easier to work
with.

12. Create another angle parameter called “ANGLE_180_FIX” it is

the true arc angle.

13. Give it a formula = 180-INPUT_ANGLE

14. Assign the “ANGLE_180_FIX” parameter to the arc angle

parameter

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Ride the Rails: New Ways to build Rotation

Marcello Sgambelluri, John Martin Structural Engineers Inc.

15. Make the radius of the open circle a permanent dimension. This
is done to further constrain the open circle. It is also very critical
that it is done at this step and not any other time.

16. Set the work plane to the end of the open circle, this is done so
that the reference line that will host the door geometry is placed
at the correct plane.

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Ride the Rails: New Ways to build Rotation

Marcello Sgambelluri, John Martin Structural Engineers Inc.

17. Draw a reference line on the set work plane from the open circle
end to the centre of rotation of the open circle.

18. Congratulations! The Open Reference Circle rotation rig is now

complete.

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Ride the Rails: New Ways to build Rotation

Marcello Sgambelluri, John Martin Structural Engineers Inc.

19. Set the reference plane of the host reference line to receive the
door geometry, create the door geometry on the hosting
reference line. How to create the door geometry will not be
covered in this posting however, it is very simple to perform.

Note: The door family was covered here however; this

method is applicable to host any geometry, in any family, in
any environment.

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Ride the Rails: New Ways to build Rotation

Marcello Sgambelluri, John Martin Structural Engineers Inc.

Lab Exercise 3 Revolve Method

History
The Open Reference Circle method as shown in the previous exercise
will not work when the value of the arc angle is zero because it is not
allowed to have a zero length. However, if the length were to never
change then the problem would be solved.

It was this fundamental concept that had me realize that the Revolve
element (which is one of the four forms that could be created in the
classic family editor) could have a constant angle value and have its
start and end angles move together. This would allow the arc angle to
never be zero. As shown above the end of the revolve element could
be defined as a work plane similar to the point on Ride the Rail method
and the reference plane on the Open Reference Circle method.

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Ride the Rails: New Ways to build Rotation

Marcello Sgambelluri, John Martin Structural Engineers Inc.

From this, I created the “Revolve” rotation method as shown in the

rotation rig above and notice that it uses the preset revolve form
parameters of the start and end angles to control the angle NOT the
angle parameter. Basically it is the Open Reference Circle method with
the revolve element swapped out for the reference arc. This way, the
revolve element could be a constant arc length/angle and the end
angle is “chasing” its start angle. This is not possible with the reference
arc element in the Open Reference Circle method and that is why a
revolve element is used because it is not plagued with the limitation of
having the arc angle value break when it has a zero value.

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Ride the Rails: New Ways to build Rotation

Marcello Sgambelluri, John Martin Structural Engineers Inc.

Example and Description

Above is the example Door family at different angles that are hosted
on a wall element in the project environment that is using the Open
Reference Circle rotation rig. Any angle is now possible. Below is a step
by step process on how to create the Revolve rig to control a door
family in Revit.

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Ride the Rails: New Ways to build Rotation

Marcello Sgambelluri, John Martin Structural Engineers Inc.

1. First start a new door family from the default family template in
Revit. Go to the reference plan view.
2. Set the reference plane to exterior. This will host the revolve
profile

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Ride the Rails: New Ways to build Rotation

Marcello Sgambelluri, John Martin Structural Engineers Inc.

3. Create a rectangular profile where the top of the profile is at the

floor line
4. Select the revolve axis line as the vertical reference plane that
intersects the centre of rotation. Click ok when done and the
revolve element will be created.
5. Click on the revolve element and make it “not” visible. This will
make the revolve element not visible in the project environment.

Note: this element could be left as “visible” and be

changed to look like a door handle instead of how the
revolve element looks in this example.

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Marcello Sgambelluri, John Martin Structural Engineers Inc.

6. Create two angle parameters

7. Create an angle parameter called “INPUT” This will be used as
the input angle, what is traditionally used to define how “open”
a door is. I like to use the end angle to control the back side of
the angle instead of the front because it is easier to work with
8. Create another angle parameter called “START” and give it the
formula as shown above
9. Create another angle parameter called “END” and give it the
formula as shown above.
10. Assign the “START” and “END” parameter to the start and end
preset parameters of the revolve element respectfully.

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Marcello Sgambelluri, John Martin Structural Engineers Inc.

11. Go to the top down 3d view and set the work plane to the end
of the revolve element, this is done so that the reference line that
will host the door geometry is placed at the correct plane.

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Marcello Sgambelluri, John Martin Structural Engineers Inc.

12. Create a reference line by picking the face of the end of the
revolve element.

13. Congratulations! The Revolve rotation rig is now complete.

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Marcello Sgambelluri, John Martin Structural Engineers Inc.

14. Set the reference plane of the host reference line to receive the
door geometry, create the door geometry on the hosting
reference line.
15. The door geometry will not be covered in this posting however; it
is very simple to perform.

Note: The door family was covered here however; this

method is applicable to host any geometry, in any classic
family editor.

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Ride the Rails: New Ways to build Rotation

Marcello Sgambelluri, John Martin Structural Engineers Inc.

Final words
This lab was intended to offer “alternatives” to traditional rotation rig
modelling methods in Revit and provide the general theory behind
these new methods by applying these new methods on sample
families. However, the theory is what is important and you may need a
different application of these new methods at the work place since
every project and family is unique. I encourage everyone to practice
these new methods, understand the underlying theories, decide if they
are a viable alternative for your situation and apply them accordingly.
Good luck!

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Customizing the Graphical Column
Schedule: Adding Parameters
Marcello Sgambelluri, John A. Martin & Associates

Class Description
The graphical column schedule (GCS) may be a system family that
cannot be edited in the family editor but that does not mean that it is
not customizable. This lab will discuss how the graphical column
schedule could be customized to suit your needs. This includes how to
create parameters within the column families so that information such
as base plate sizes and detail information shows up dynamically in
information boxes within the GCS.

Also this lab will discuss how to create custom column tags. The main
focus of this lab is to show how to schedule steel columns however the
fundamentals of this lab could be applied to concrete, CMU or even
timber columns.

About the Speaker:

Marcello is the BIM Director at John A. Martin & Associates Structural
Engineers in Los Angeles, CA. He has been using Autodesk products for
over 15 years including AutoCAD, 3ds Max, and Revit Structure. He is a
member of the ASCE-SEI BIM committee and continually speaks at
structural professional conferences across the country. Marcello
teaches classes regularly at Autodesk University and the Revit
Technology Conference that focus on free form modelling in Revit and
alpha/beta tests the yearly releases of Revit Structure. He has worked
on many projects that have incorporated complex geometry including
the Walt Disney Concert Hall in Los Angeles, CA, the Stata Centre at
MIT, and the Tom Bradley International Terminal Expansion at LAX.
Marcello received B.S. and M.S. degrees in Civil Engineering. He is also
a licensed Civil and Structural Engineer..
Customizing the Graphical Column Schedule:
Adding Parameters
Marcello Sgambelluri, John A. Martin & Associates
Introduction
The graphical column schedule (GCS) is a system family. The major
disadvantage with system families is that they can NOT be edited in the
family editor. Therefore, the GCS is not customizable other than the
settings that are already available to you in the properties box. The
major problem arises when you want to customize the column
schedule differently than the settings will allow in the properties box. So,
what do you do?

Well we could wait around for Revit to produce a column schedule

that is more customizable, keep in mind that the graphical column
schedule was introduced in version 2009 in Revit Structure and there
has been no enhancement to date, or could take matters into your
own hands and customize your own content within the graphical
column schedule. This lab will explain how to do the latter and satisfy
your GCS needs.

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Customizing the Graphical Column Schedule:
Adding Parameters
Marcello Sgambelluri, John A. Martin & Associates

Lab Outline

GCS Facts

Project Description

Pre-Lab Exercise 1 – Create a GCS and Adjusting Properties

 Add levels
 Remove unwanted columns on column schedule
 Adjust Widths and Heights of Rows and Columns
 Adjust general line thickness of the GCS
 Adding Splices and Baseplate symbols

Lab Exercise 2 – Adding Parameters (Base-Plate info)

 Building the Base Plate
 Creating parameters in the column tag family
 Tagging the GCS

Lab Exercise 3 – Showing Rebar in the GCS

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Customizing the Graphical Column Schedule:
Adding Parameters
Marcello Sgambelluri, John A. Martin & Associates

GCS FACTS
• Unique to Revit Structure – not many enhancements in recent years

• The GCS is a system family

• Architectural Columns will not display in the GCS

• All Columns displayed in the GCS are viewed from the South

• Revit creates the GCS as soon as you model your 1st Column

• The GCS references all columns by grid locations

• ONLY the following annotation elements can be added to the GCS

o Text
o Spot elevations/coordinate/slope
o Tags
o Keynotes

• Column location marks show up at the bottom of the GCS by

default

• Structural Columns are the only model elements displayed in the

GCS

• Structural Columns in Linked Revit Models will not display in the GCS
• Level names are project default names and cannot be changed

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Customizing the Graphical Column Schedule:
Adding Parameters
Marcello Sgambelluri, John A. Martin & Associates

Project Description

This lab will explain how to get a column schedule to look like the one
in the image below using the sample steel building above.

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Customizing the Graphical Column Schedule:
Adding Parameters
Marcello Sgambelluri, John A. Martin & Associates

Pre-Exercise 1-Create a GCS

Start creating a schedule from “View” - “Schedules” - “Graphical
Column Schedule”.

Add levels
Open the properties box. Add or remove levels with the “hidden levels”
property as shown. To set the range of the level, or what level to start
and stop the column schedule use the “top level and bottom level”
properties as shown.

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Customizing the Graphical Column Schedule:
Adding Parameters
Marcello Sgambelluri, John A. Martin & Associates

Remove unwanted columns on column schedule

To remove unwanted columns from column schedule simply

permanently hide column as shown. Hidden columns will disappear
and the column will auto adjust to accommodate the hidden column.

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Customizing the Graphical Column Schedule:
Adding Parameters
Marcello Sgambelluri, John A. Martin & Associates

Adjust Widths and Heights of Rows and Columns

Open the properties box. The Text Appearance in the properties box
controls the shapes of the column schedules in the GRID TAB as shown
and the text properties TEXT TAB as shown.

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Customizing the Graphical Column Schedule:
Adding Parameters
Marcello Sgambelluri, John A. Martin & Associates

Adjust general line thickness of the GCS

There are no settings in the GCS properties box to change the line
thickness of the GCS boundary lines. The GCS system family uses the
thin line setting from the global project settings. To change the line
thickness you will need to change the thin line settings. To do this, open
the visibility overrides dialog box for the GCS view. In the model
categories tab select the lines category. Navigate to the thin lines and
override the line weight to desired line thickness. Note that you are only
changing the thin line weight for this particular GCS view and not the
project thin line weight. Also note by default the thin line thickness is 1. If
you want to change the entire projects thin line thickness go to
manage/additional settings/line styles/thinlines as shown below.

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Customizing the Graphical Column Schedule:
Adding Parameters
Marcello Sgambelluri, John A. Martin & Associates

Adding Splices and Baseplate symbols

Create a new symbol using the “Generic Annotation” family template
and set family category to “Connection Symbols” set top for top of
column and bot for bottom of column.

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Customizing the Graphical Column Schedule:
Adding Parameters
Marcello Sgambelluri, John A. Martin & Associates
Load new connection type in “Structural Settings under “Symbolic
Representation Settings”

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Customizing the Graphical Column Schedule:
Adding Parameters
Marcello Sgambelluri, John A. Martin & Associates
Control the width of the splice by the following setting in the “manage-
structural settings” properties box. Note that only the top of the column
will be adjusted the bottom of the column will remain at its modelled
location.

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Customizing the Graphical Column Schedule:
Adding Parameters
Marcello Sgambelluri, John A. Martin & Associates

Lab Exercise 2 – Adding Parameters (Base-Plate info)

The base plate table is a tag family linked with shared parameters to a
column family. Follow the steps below to create a parametric
baseplate and information box in the GCS.

1. Open the Column family titled “W Wide Flange Column

RTC_START.rfa”
2. Go to the reference plan view. It should look similar to the view
above.

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Customizing the Graphical Column Schedule:
Adding Parameters
Marcello Sgambelluri, John A. Martin & Associates

3. Open the family parameters and notice the difference types of

parameters already created as shown above. All the
parameters are shared parameters so they could be shared
between the column family and the column tag that will both be
displayed in the GCS.

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Customizing the Graphical Column Schedule:
Adding Parameters
Marcello Sgambelluri, John A. Martin & Associates

4. Change the B and N base plate parameters to B and N as

shown.
5. Create a base plate using the extrusion form and lock the base
plate boundaries to the reference planes.

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Customizing the Graphical Column Schedule:
Adding Parameters
Marcello Sgambelluri, John A. Martin & Associates

6. Go to the 3D view and assign the thickness of the baseplate

“extrusion end” to the “t” parameter.
7. Load the column family into the project.

Note: it is more stable to use the extrusion pre-set

parameters in lieu of the linear dimension
parameters.

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Customizing the Graphical Column Schedule:
Adding Parameters
Marcello Sgambelluri, John A. Martin & Associates

8. Open up the column tag family titled “Column schedule

Box_RTC_START.rfa”
9. Notice there are pre-drawn boundary lines in the tag family.
10. Change the width parameter to the pre-set “width” parameter.
11. Change the detail bubble label parameters to “detail and sheet
number as shown”. There may be a need to open up the shared
parameter file “column_shared_parameters.txt”.
12. Load the Label into the project

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Customizing the Graphical Column Schedule:
Adding Parameters
Marcello Sgambelluri, John A. Martin & Associates

13. Tag the new column and move the new parametric tag boxes
into place. They should snap into place. The final text box should
look like the image above.

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Marcello Sgambelluri, John A. Martin & Associates

Lab Exercise 3 – Showing Rebar in the GCS

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