Tài liệu Mastering Revit Architecture 2008_ Part 8 pptx

44831.book Page 201 Friday, October 12, 2007 12:31 AM Chapter Concept Massing Studies In this chapter, we’ll talk about the early stages of design and the first massing studies created that explore conceptual ideas We’ll introduce you to the principles of massing and the tools in Revit that are specifically designed to support workflows related to massing studies, and early conceptual design processes where form is explored and analyzed You’ll see how Revit allows you to maintain continuity as you move from massing study into real building elements that can be documented and eventually built We’ll discuss various approaches for creating massing studies and the underlying principles of creating parametric mass elements using the Family Editor You’ll acquire the following skills in this chapter: ◆ Understand massing workflows supported by Revit ◆ Create massing elements in the Project Environment and Family Editor ◆ Understand how massing can be used downstream as the design progresses Massing Studies There are many ways to start a new design It often starts as a napkin sketch while you listen to your client’s needs and desires in a coffee shop These first ideas encapsulate the essence of the design and, unless some unforeseen changes are demanded in the design, usually manifest themselves in recognizable form in the final building Many architects are known for the remarkable similarity between the first napkin sketches and the final outcomes, as can be seen in drawings by architects such as Frank Gehry, Jorn Utzon, Daniel Libeskind, Frank Lloyd Wright, and countless others Figure 7.1 shows a hand sketch using very gestural lines, tones, and hatches The ability to sketch freely and with gestural expression is a fundamental aspect of design iteration and has been part of the architectural profession for centuries.- Figure 7.1 An inspiring early sketch Images courtesy of Emmanuel Di Giacomo Please purchase PDF Split-Merge on www.verypdf.com to remove this watermark 44831.book Page 202 Friday, October 12, 2007 12:31 AM CHAPTER CONCEPT MASSING STUDIES Architects have long realized that the only way to make an investor buy in into their early ideas and designs is to make that investor understand the designs Many investors have difficulty reading technical drawings, so architects use creative methods to communicate the design, the space, and the experience of that space Perspective drawings, photo collages, and 3D physical models made of wood, Styrofoam, cardboard, balsa, Plexiglas, and metals are all used to help the client, and sometimes the public, understand the implications of a given design In more sophisticated building studios, these models are constructed so that the design can be evaluated by deconstructing the model to examine individual stages of construction and integrated systems Models can range in fidelity from very rough massing studies to highly photorealistic renderings, as Figure 7.2 demonstrates Figure 7.2 a b c Models can range from very rough (a and b) to highly refined representations (c and d) d Image courtesy of BNIM Architects 202 3D physical models offer some obvious advantages for conveying design intent: ◆ You get an immediate feel for proportion, scale, and composition ◆ You can get a feel for spatial volume ◆ Light and shadow can be easily simulated ◆ It’s possible to model the surrounding site and understand how your design relates to its context 3D physical models also have some potential disadvantages: ◆ They take a lot of time and patience to create ◆ They require space for creation as well as storage ◆ They are created in only one scale ◆ They can’t handle design options easily Please purchase PDF Split-Merge on www.verypdf.com to remove this watermark 44831.book Page 203 Friday, October 12, 2007 12:31 AM MASSING STUDIES ◆ They require manual work—both in the physical modeling and in performing calculations of area and space ◆ They can be costly in terms of skilled personnel, materials, and equipment As clients become more demanding, they aren’t satisfied with understanding how the future building will look, but also want to know how the building will perform in terms of lifecycle costs They need the ability to compare and contrast multiple solutions in order to arrive with you at an optimized design solution that meets their taste, all the program requirements, and is sustainable economically To accommodate all that, architects and owners need to analyze the building and experience it in the early stages of design before it’s built Traditional hand-built models don’t provide this kind of analytical flexibility This is where using digital models backed up by real data comes into play See Figure 7.3 Figure 7.3 Early massing studies Image courtesy of Gianluca N Lange Massing Study Workflows Regardless of how a massing study is done (digitally or in a physical medium), there has always been a break in the workflow from conceptual design to finished building Physical massing models were made first and then, to create a digital project, the architect had to re-create the same concept from zero, usually in AutoCAD without having a way to reuse the information previously created When you make a digital study using tools such as Rhino, SketchUp, Form Z, or 3ds Max, you still need to start from scratch to begin the process of documenting your design because they are just modelers, not documentation tools, and the data created in them is not reusable in any intelligent way Please purchase PDF Split-Merge on www.verypdf.com to remove this watermark 203 44831.book Page 204 Friday, October 12, 2007 12:31 AM 204 CHAPTER CONCEPT MASSING STUDIES This has traditionally occurred in the form of 2D drawings using a tool such as AutoCAD With the advent of Building Information Modeling, this is all changing An important part of using BIM is being able to use data throughout the design process, from start to finish—without needing to start over from ground zero once you’ve got the massing done Revit provides specific tools for keeping the design process integrated For early conceptual studies, Revit has massing tools that allow you to create a mass model that can later easily be transformed into walls, floors, and roofs This capability is popularly called Building Maker, a set of tools for converting an abstract mass form into a full-fledged building model With the massing tools, you can create flexible preliminary designs and create massing models out of building blocks long before you make decisions about walls, roofs, and floors You can create the pieces quickly, run though and visualize alternate configurations, and then, only when they’re ready, generate a building shell Common Uses for the Massing Tools Here are some commons scenarios where using Revit massing tools make sense Site Studies: Using Massing to Quickly Build the Context Environment Around the Building You can use massing capabilities to quickly model the surrounding context of your building to get a feel for how it fits This is a standard practice used to demonstrate to clients or for competitions how your design relates to its environment Once you have modeled the environment around your building, you can make quick walkthroughs around your building and experience it from different points of view from various vantage points You can also make initial solar studies to better understand how your building affects the environment and how the environment affects your design Image courtesy of Kubik-Nemeth-Vlkovic Please purchase PDF Split-Merge on www.verypdf.com to remove this watermark 44831.book Page 205 Friday, October 12, 2007 12:31 AM MASSING STUDIES Massing Studies for Testing Different Design Options Image Courtesy of Gensler You can a quick conceptual massing study to work out a functional design arrangement, make more options, and look for an optimal solution For each design, separate masses can be made and given color to indicate their form This allows you to see spatial relationships in simplified geometric forms but also get precise area and volume values for each mass option you explore Feasibility Studies and Program Verification Please purchase PDF Split-Merge on www.verypdf.com to remove this watermark Image courtesy of RMJM Hillier, Design Competition, Master Plan Massing Study You can take the massing study a step further and make a feasibility study, explore how you can fit the client’s program on the site, calculate the Floor Area Ratio (FAR), and convert it into a building with walls, floor, roofs, and site elements With mode information added to the model, you can get better estimates about building cost, energy analysis, and aesthetics 205 44831.book Page 206 Friday, October 12, 2007 12:31 AM 206 CHAPTER CONCEPT MASSING STUDIES Image courtesy of Gensler Massing Tools The massing tools are located on the Design bar’s Massing tab (Figure 7.4) If you don’t see it, activate it by right-clicking anywhere on the Design bar and clicking Massing To create a massing study, analyze it, and convert it to a building, you need to understand the available tools first; then, we’ll walk through a real exercise Figure 7.4 The Massing tab provides all the tools needed to create a massing study Mass-creation tools Building Maker tools View tools Please purchase PDF Split-Merge on www.verypdf.com to remove this watermark 44831.book Page 207 Friday, October 12, 2007 12:31 AM MASSING STUDIES The tools for creating masses in Revit are directly connected to the modeling tools and techniques we discussed in Chapter You’ll use the same modeling tools (Extrusion, Blend, Sweep, Revolve) as well as the logic of work planes and placing by face whenever you create a mass, whether in the project environment or the Family Editor The Massing design bar is divided into three groups of tools that we refer to as mass-creation tools, Building Maker tools, and view tools The first group allows you to make masses from scratch or place massing families The second group contains tools to support the concept of Building Maker—a term that doesn’t exist in the Revit UI but is commonly adopted among Revit users to describe the process of converting a concept massing into a real building Using the faces of a conceptual mass, you can attach walls, curtain systems, floors, and roofs to the mass form with a click of the mouse Later in this chapter we’ll refer to this grouping as Building Maker The third group contains the standard Section and Level tools; these are the most important additional tools to have at hand during creation of mass studies They are the same Section and Level tools that you find on the Basic menu or in the views Creating a Massing Element There are two ways to create a mass element in the project environment: Select the Create Mass tool This method allows you to create a new mass element Select the Place Mass tool This method allows you to place a massing family or load a mass family from your library Before we look in detail at these two methods, you need to understand how massing visibility is handled in Revit, because you’ll encounter this issue the moment you start creating masses Visibility of Masses When you try to place mass or create mass for the first time, you may get the following message, which conveys information about the visibility of the mass elements: This message can be disconcerting at first, so let’s understand what is going on Visibility of mass elements can be controlled via the toolbar or as a category in the Visibility/Graphic Overrides dialog The toolbar control is a global on/off switch for massing that affects all views temporarily It’s located at the top of the screen, near the 3D button: Please purchase PDF Split-Merge on www.verypdf.com to remove this watermark 207 44831.book Page 208 Friday, October 12, 2007 12:31 AM 208 CHAPTER CONCEPT MASSING STUDIES When you select this button, all masses in all views become visible This is great for early massing studies, allowing you to move from view to view and see your mass without having to turn the category on/off for each view When this mode is enabled, it does not affect the Visibility/Graphics Overrides state of your views To see the mass elements in specific views only, you should use the Visibility/Graphics Overrides settings for view control Even when the Show Mass button is turned off, if you check the Mass setting in the Visibility/Graphic Overrides dialog, it will be visible in that view To print and export massing, you need to turn the mass category on using the Visibility/Graphic Overrides dialog The Massing toggle is a temporary view control and doesn’t affect printed output As you develop your design further and start creating the real building components (walls, floors, and roofs) by adding elements to the model, the mass will become obscured A great way to maintain a view where only massing is visible is to create a 3D view where all categories are turned off except massing Name the view Massing or something appropriate Figure 7.5 shows two views: one with only the massing category visible and the other with all categories visible This is handy, for example, when you want to make adjustments to the basic shapes that define the geometry (masses) without being distracted by the presence of the building elements When you change the underlying mass, the architectural elements created from it follow the change automatically You’ll learn more about this workflow in Chapter Figure 7.5 The same view with different visibility states for massing and model elements View with only the massing category visible View with all categories visible Masses in Revit appear with transparent materials in 3D views by default When you switch to floor plan, however, they appear solid Users of Revit have shared this experience and some suggest orienting a 3D view to a floor-level plan You’ll notice the difference with the behavior of the shadows as well: Although a floor-plan view of a mass displays a shadow, an oriented 3D view doesn’t Starting a Conceptual Massing Study You can create massing forms using Revit’s 3D modeling tools Use these tools to quickly generate site plans and initial building shapes in the early phase of design development Creating a Mass In the Massing Design Tab, when you select Create Mass, you’re first prompted to name the mass you’re about to create Once you provide a name, the interface transforms into mass-creation mode, Please purchase PDF Split-Merge on www.verypdf.com to remove this watermark 44831.book Page 209 Friday, October 12, 2007 12:31 AM MASSING STUDIES with a new set of tools on the Design bar (Figure 7.6) Using these tools, you proceed to create the massing form using combinations of solid and void forms Figure 7.6 The Design bar for massing creation This creation mode is similar to that of the Family Editor, where a select set of tools are presented that are relevant to parametric creation of forms You’ll also notice some overlap with the Create tool in the Modeling Design bar The underlying principles in all these environments (Family Editor, in-place Family Editor, and Massing Editor) are the same Most tools on this Design bar should be familiar The only unique feature is the Place Mass tool When selected, this tool does the same thing as the Place Mass tool on the Massing Design tab: It lets you place a mass family This is a component-placement tool that only places components of the mass category When you’re in mass-edit mode, you can create mass elements that are represented by a single shape or are a combination of shapes, solids, and voids Everything you add is considered part of the mass you’re creating You can place as many different masses in this mode as you require Your decision whether to make each shape a separate mass will depend on what you need it to represent and how you intend to interact with it For example, one mass element could have five extrusions representing five buildings Or, you could make five separate mass elements for each building Do you want to move each building independently? Or will you likely want to move all the buildings together, as one element? When you’ve finished modeling the mass, you click Finish Mass, and everything you modeled becomes one mass element To edit a mass, select it and click the Edit button on the Options bar Be aware that a mass element must have solid geometry in it—it can’t be made of voids alone If you try to make a void massing, you’ll get a warning message like the one shown in Figure 7.7 Figure 7.7 Error message for a mass without solids It’s possible to get the same message even if you have a solid but the void isn’t cutting through the solid For example, if you draw the solid first and then the void, the message won’t appear If you the opposite and add the void before the solid, you’ll get the message To solve this problem, you need to use the Cut Geometry tool to make the solids and voids intersect Only by using this tool will this message be cleared so you can finish the mass Figures 7.8 and 7.9 show this Please purchase PDF Split-Merge on www.verypdf.com to remove this watermark 209 44831.book Page 210 Friday, October 12, 2007 12:31 AM 210 CHAPTER CONCEPT MASSING STUDIES Figure 7.8 If you draw a void before you add a solid, they won’t intersect or have any relationship—the mass can’t be completed in this case Solid Void Figure 7.9 Adding a void after placing a solid cuts it from the solid The mass can then be completed The Cut and Join Geometry tools are both available on the Options bar when forms are selected These tools are important when you’re dealing with massing, so let’s look more closely at them: Cut Geometry This tool cuts voids out of solids You select the tool, select a void, and then select what you want the void to cut Voids can cut multiple solids Join Geometry This tool joins solids (voids can’t be joined together) to form one connected element It merges the shapes (masses) into one, both graphically and as data (Figure 7.10) To use this tool, select the tool, and then select solids you want to join Multiple solids can be joined together If you change the position of one of the joined masses, the intersection (called the joining) instantly updates However, if you move one of the joined masses outside the boundaries of the other joined masses so they don’t intersect any more, you’ll get a warning message To resolve the problem, you can use the Unjoin Geometry command Note that even if the mass elements are joined, selecting the mass results in the selection of just one of them (Figure 7.11) Please purchase PDF Split-Merge on www.verypdf.com to remove this watermark 44831.book Page 213 Friday, October 12, 2007 12:31 AM MASSING STUDIES Figure 7.13 Loaded massing family on the left, and mass built in the project on the right By default, this is set to Place On Face; if you try to drag and drop an element from the type list onto the workspace, your cursor looks like a crossed circle if it doesn’t find any geometric face to be a placed on and you will not be able to place the mass To switch out of this mode, change from Place By Face to Place On Work Plane to place masses freely From then on, your mass elements will be placed on the current level or whatever the current work plane of the view is set to The Place By Face option is usually used when you need to continue placement or creation of a mass on the face of another element We covered this when discussing modeling techniques in Chapter One more option you should be aware of on the Options bar is Rotate After Placement When this option is deselected, you place the mass element using one click The click is the center of the mass element, which is placed at degrees When the option is selected, you use two clicks to place the mass element: the first one to position it, the second one to define the rotation angle In a new Revit session, try clicking Place Mass In the Revit templates, no mass element is preloaded, so you’re prompted to load one If you confirm by clicking Yes, the Family Library opens so you can load masses from the Mass folder The choices include arch, gable, box, sphere, pyramid, and other predefined shapes You can load more than one at the same time with the familiar Shift or Ctrl selection When you load a mass, don’t expect it to immediately be dropped/drawn in the drawing area: Loading it just adds it to the project To place it, you must select it from the Type Selector or the Mass folder in the Family Tree of the Project Browser and place it in the view Creating a New Mass Family The mass element has its own family templates: Mass Element.rft and Mass.rft If the shapes shown in Figure 7.12 don’t represent what you need, and you wish to create your own custom shapes that you’ll use in more than one project, you can start a new family using MassElement.rft and create your own parametric mass Later in this chapter, we’ll guide you through the creation of a parametric mass family in the Family Editor Please purchase PDF Split-Merge on www.verypdf.com to remove this watermark 213 44831.book Page 214 Friday, October 12, 2007 12:31 AM 214 CHAPTER CONCEPT MASSING STUDIES If you haven’t been modeling much yet in Revit, you can learn a lot about how to model by editing one of these families Load it in a project, select it, and click Edit Family in the Options bar, and the family will open in the Family Editor Look at how the mass element was created Making a Pyramid Mass Form The Pyramid Mass family (in the mass family folder) is an example that shows the use of solid and void extrusions When you edit this family, you’ll notice that it was created with the following elements: A solid box was created as a simple extrusion, and two void extrusions were added to remove geometry from the box and create the pyramid shape: When you’re modeling it, a shape is nothing more than a static 3D object To make a mass parametrically changeable, you can add labeled dimensions to it That way, the mass can not just represent one shape and size, but also have several types of predefined sizes Of course, once an element has parametric dimensions, you’re free to make as many variations of that shape as necessary For example, if you open the Cylinder mass element from the library, you’ll find that it has two parameters related to its size: Radius and Height Defining parameters lets you predefine types (size combinations) that can be changed in the project environment In the Family Editor, we made the Radius and Height dimensions into labeled dimensions, and thus they became parametric constraints (see Figure 7.14) Figure 7.14 A cylinder mass element with two main parameters: Radius and Height The mass elements shown in Figure 7.12 are all simple, created from simple solids or combinations of solids and voids You can create more complex mass elements by nesting one mass within another mass family Nesting means you’re importing one mass element into another to create a more complex assembly Please purchase PDF Split-Merge on www.verypdf.com to remove this watermark 44831.book Page 215 Friday, October 12, 2007 12:31 AM MASSING STUDIES Putting Theory into Practice: Making a Parametric Mass Family In the following exercise, we’ll guide you through the creation of a simple parametric mass family so that you understand some of the principles of creating a mass in the Family Editor (In the next chapter, we’ll guide you through creation of a mass model within the project.) The result will be the mass shape shown in Figure 7.15, which is parametrically adjustable in several dimensions Figure 7.15 The parametric mass family you’ll create in this exercise When you’re creating a new family, it’s essential to select the correct family template In this case, you wish to create a new mass element, so you need to select Mass.rft or Metric Mass.rft Follow these steps: Choose File New Family In the New dialog, select the template Metric Mass.rft and click the Open button The Family Editor opens, and the drawing area shows the plan view There are two predefined reference planes: The vertical one is called Center (left/right), and the horizontal one is called Center (Front/Back) The intersection of these two planes will define the insertion point of the family when you later place it in the project You want to create a parametric family, not just a fixed mass, and thus you need to create reference planes to which you can constrain dimensional parameters that will allow you to change the size of the family by changing properties Using the Ref Plane tool from the Design Bar, add four more reference planes in the plan view: These will be used to control the size of the mass in plan In the front elevation, add two additional horizontal reference planes These will be used to control the height of the mass: Please purchase PDF Split-Merge on www.verypdf.com to remove this watermark 215 44831.book Page 216 Friday, October 12, 2007 12:31 AM 216 CHAPTER CONCEPT MASSING STUDIES Place dimensions between the reference planes in plan and elevation You’ll eventually convert these dimensions to labels that represent the future parameters to be tweaked; you’ll that by selecting the dimensions and clicking the Label button on the Options bar For now, let’s keep adding dimensions Select the reference plane you created in elevation and that is coincidental to the level: It isn’t easy to see it (it can be completely covered by the level geometry), so use the Tab key and verify in the tooltip or in the command line that you have selected the reference plane and not the level Click Properties on the Options bar, and change the value of the Is Reference parameter from Not Reference to Weak Reference This makes the bottom of the massing form display blue grip controls when selected Look at the reference planes that define the center axis, because they need to remain centered relative to the other reference planes You’ll set an equality (EQ) dimension constraint between these three reference planes to keep the design symmetrically balanced Select the two reference planes that define the axis, and set their Is Reference parameter to Not Reference Open the plan view Ref Level On the Design bar, click Dimension Click each reference plane to create the dimensions between them, and then click the EQ symbol: Repeat the same action in the other direction: With these steps, you’ve ensured that the axes in both the X and Y directions will always be in the middle of the element You now need to create the parameters that will control the size of the mass element: D for Depth and W for Width Please purchase PDF Split-Merge on www.verypdf.com to remove this watermark 44831.book Page 217 Friday, October 12, 2007 12:31 AM MASSING STUDIES Still in plan view, select the Dimension tool, and place a dimension between the two outer reference planes Don’t worry about the value of the dimension: On the Design bar, click Modify, and select the dimension you just created On the Options bar, click the drop-down list next to the label, and select Add Parameter 10 In the Parameter Properties dialog (Figure 7.16), enter W for Name In the list for Group Parameter Under, select Dimensions, and select the Instance radio button Click OK to confirm your selections Figure 7.16 Defining the Width parameter Following the same principle, create a dimension in the other direction and name it D for depth: Note that from now on the value in the dimension text has a prefix D or W Please purchase PDF Split-Merge on www.verypdf.com to remove this watermark 217 44831.book Page 218 Friday, October 12, 2007 12:31 AM 218 CHAPTER CONCEPT MASSING STUDIES 11 Open the front elevation view, and add a dimension between the reference plane that is coincidental with the level (again, make sure that you select the bottom reference plane and not the level line) and the first horizontal reference plane above: Add another dimension between the other two horizontal reference planes: Following the principle previously described for labeling these, name them H1 and H2: 12 You’ve created the framework that will drive the geometry, so all that is left to is to make the geometry But before that, you need to test the parameters you just created—what is called flexing the model: On the Design bar, select Family Types In the Family Types dialog (Figure 7.17), select the parameters you just created, and modify the values Click the Apply button to see the effects in the view (the reference planes move as you change values) Make sure you change the parameters one by one; if you get an error message, and you’ve changed many values at the same time, you won’t know which one is the problem If you try changing all the values and don’t get any error messages, you have done well and are ready to create the geometry Please purchase PDF Split-Merge on www.verypdf.com to remove this watermark 44831.book Page 219 Friday, October 12, 2007 12:31 AM MASSING STUDIES Figure 7.17 The Family Types dialog 13 Open the plan Ref Plane and, on the Design bar, select Solid and then Solid Extrusion: You’re placed into sketch mode, and the Design bar changes to show only tools relevant to the extrusion sketch mode On the Options bar, select the Rectangle shape: Click the intersection of the left and bottom reference planes to define the start point of the rectangle: Click the intersection of the top and right reference planes to define the diagonal finish point of the rectangle: Click the four padlocks that appear automatically—by doing so, you create constraints between the lines of the sketch and the reference planes on which they’re drawn This means Please purchase PDF Split-Merge on www.verypdf.com to remove this watermark 219 44831.book Page 220 Friday, October 12, 2007 12:31 AM 220 CHAPTER CONCEPT MASSING STUDIES that later—when you move the position of the reference planes by changing the values in the Family Types, the sketch lines of the geometry will follow the change and parametrically change In the Design bar, click Finish Sketch 14 Open the front elevation, and select the solid you just created Click the blue arrow on the top of the solid, and move it up to the upper reference plane It should snap to it When the geometry coincides with the reference plane, a padlock icon appears, allowing you to constrain the relationship Click the padlock You’ve now defined the relationship between the top of the solid and the reference plane, so that if you change the referenceplane position (the value of the parameter) again, the top of the solid will move with it 15 Using the Family Type option from the Design bar, start changing the H1 and H2 parameters, and see what happens While working with the family parameters, you can also change (flex) the values for W and D to verify how they affect the geometry Note that to review the correct functioning of the parameters while flexing them, it’s best to be in 3D view 16 You’ll now add a void to the solid For that purpose, you’ll use the Sweep tool You’ll start by adding a new reference plane that will control the position of the new shape in plan view Open the plan view Ref Level, and add a reference plane: Please purchase PDF Split-Merge on www.verypdf.com to remove this watermark 44831.book Page 221 Friday, October 12, 2007 12:31 AM MASSING STUDIES 17 Add a dimension between this new reference plane and the one that defines the axis front/ back, and transform this new dimension into a label as previously described Name the new label O (for Offset) 18 Open a 3D view On the Design bar, click Void Form Void Sweep 19 Click the Pick Path tool This time, instead of sketching the path, you’ll use existing geometry for the path you want to define Click the solid’s four top edges For this exercise, make sure you first select the edge that is in the front: On that first edge you picked, a cross appears, with a red spot in its center This represents the work plane of the profile sketch You can sketch the shape of your profile directly in 3D, but it’s easier to draw the shape in the same plane as the profile work plane—especially when dimensions are important Switch to a view that is parallel to the sketch’s work plane—in this case, the left or right elevation On the Design bar, click Finish Path 20 On the Options bar, select Sketch Profile Open the right elevation On the Design bar, click the Line tool, and then trace three sketch lines: 21 Click the Align tool, select the vertical reference plane, and then select the vertical line of the newly created sketch By doing so, you align the sketch line to the reference plane To establish the relationship, click the padlock icon Please purchase PDF Split-Merge on www.verypdf.com to remove this watermark 221 44831.book Page 222 Friday, October 12, 2007 12:31 AM 222 CHAPTER CONCEPT MASSING STUDIES Note: if you ever forget to click the lock, and the next time you want to so the lock doesn’t appear, click the sketch line, move it to the left or right, and reposition over the reference plane—the lock will appear again, and you can lock it 22 Still using the Align tool, click the top horizontal reference plane and then the top horizontal line of the sketch, and again lock the padlock 23 Click the horizontal reference plane just below the lower horizontal sketch line and then click that horizontal sketch line to align Again, lock the padlock: 24 You have one more task, and it’s more delicate Zoom in closer in the lower-right corner of the sketch and the vertical reference plane Still using the Align tool, click the vertical reference plane (the second from the left, if you’re in the right elevation), and then place your cursor next to the free end of the horizontal sketch line A little square appears at the end of the sketch line, which fades slightly (If this doesn’t happen, try moving the cursor Help yourself with the Tab key.) Once you see the small square at the end of the sketch line, click it to define the alignment to the vertical reference plane: 25 On the Design bar, click the Line tool, and draw the last line segment to close the sketch: 26 Click Dimension on the Design bar, and select Angular from the Options bar: 27 Add an angular dimension between the diagonal sketch line and the vertical reference Create a label out of that dimension, and name it A (for an Angle): Please purchase PDF Split-Merge on www.verypdf.com to remove this watermark 44831.book Page 223 Friday, October 12, 2007 12:31 AM MASSING STUDIES 28 On the Design bar, click Finish Sketch and then Finish Extrusion Don’t forget to finish both of these; otherwise, your drawing will look grayed out, indicating that you are still in the sketch mode Go to 3D view to see the result: Congratulations! You just created your first fully parametric mass family! Save it as My First Mass somewhere where you can find it again You can open a new project and load this newly created mass In the project environment, start to flex the parameters and see how they affect the shape of the mass Also note that when you import the mass element in the project and select it, small blue controls appear on the edges of the solid Using them, you can change the size of the mass element on the fly: To change the angle of the shape you carved out with the void, change the angle in the parameters and see how it affects the look of your mass The value of the angle can be positive or negative, allowing you to create variations in shape like those shown in Figure 7.15 at the beginning of this exercise Tagging and Scheduling Mass The value of doing early massing studies in Revit is that they all contain information about the spaces you’re designing You can quickly tag the masses, visually categorize them, or schedule them to get feedback about the area and volume the building will occupy The Massing Tag The Mass tag is Revit’s tag for mass elements By Default this type of tag is not loaded in Revit When you decide to tag the mass families and select Tag/by Category from the Drafting Design Bar, you will get a message that a Mass tag has not yet been loaded and that you can load such a tag from the Library If you confirm with Yes, the library folders open and you will find the Mass tag family under the Annotations folder The default Mass tag extracts the gross floor area of each mass, but you can add any other instance property to be extracted by the tag or any shared parameters you may need in the process of a feasibility study for stacking and blocking diagrams (see Chapter 15 for more on tagging) There is no special Mass tag.rft template file To create a new mass tag to match your graphic needs, you can either duplicate the existing one or start with a generic tag template Please purchase PDF Split-Merge on www.verypdf.com to remove this watermark 223 44831.book Page 224 Friday, October 12, 2007 12:31 AM CHAPTER CONCEPT MASSING STUDIES Project Parameters and Scheduling Massing To create schedules that can give you information about various functional groups to which mass elements belong, the departments they represent, or the space IDs, you can use project parameters You can create project parameters for program group, department, or space ID; assign these to your masses; and then schedule them to analyze and track how your model fits the program To add a project parameter, choose Settings Project Parameters Choose to add a new parameter, and then select Mass as the parameter’s category Once you this, the parameter shows up in all mass instances, and you can assign values for this parameter in each of the mass instances Should you also want to tag the properties in question (Program Group, Department, and so on), you’ll need to create shared parameters instead You’ll learn more about shared parameters in Chapter 15 Importing 3D Conceptual Models Created in Other Applications You can import geometry from conceptual modeling applications (3D models, created in AutoCAD, SketchUp, Rhinoceros, and 3ds Max, among others) done in various formats into a mass instance or mass family in the same way you import geometry into other families You may need or want to this in several scenarios: ◆ You have users who are comfortable with 3D modeling tools like those listed They prefer to the massing there and then use Revit’s analysis capabilities as well as the Building Maker to turn the mass into a building ◆ There are shapes and NURBS forms that Revit doesn’t easily (or at all), so you need to create the shape in another application You need not import a whole shape, as shown in Figure 7.18—it may be just a face of a shape that you’ll need later to design a specific portion of a complex-shaped building, such as its roof Figure 7.18 NURBS shape created in Rhinoceros is converted to a real wall using the Wall By Face functionality of the Building Maker Image courtesy of Matt Jezyk 224 You can import individual masses (a complex shape, for example) or a fully developed massing study model Regardless what the import represents, the strategy is to never import it directly into the project file but to go through a family import: ◆ If the geometry is an individual element that you’re likely to reuse, open the Family Editor by opening a mass template, and create a new mass by importing the geometry ◆ If you have a full study model, it’s advisable to import it as an in-place Mass family in the project (use the Create Mass tool and then File/Import CAD Formats to import the 3D geometry created elsewhere) Please purchase PDF Split-Merge on www.verypdf.com to remove this watermark 44831.book Page 225 Friday, October 12, 2007 12:31 AM MASSING STUDIES We’ll talk more in Chapter about how the behavior of the imported items depends on how they’re imported, whether directly into the project, in a massing family in the family editor, or in an in-place Mass family It is important to note that Revit won’t let you copy masses between a family and a model You may encounter this limitation (and error message) when you mistakenly added more than one mass in one mass element but you needed to assign different parameters to each of them To so, you would need to move some of the masses to other mass elements Be aware that there is no way to it and you’ll have to re-create the wrongly placed masses from zero Rapid Prototyping and 3D Printing 3D digital-massing studies allow architects to use advanced technologies and make physical prototypes for demonstration or testing purposes using the 3D printing services that are becoming more affordable For many architects as well as investors, a physical model is still something they like to have in order to study the design Rapid prototyping is the automatic construction of physical objects using solid freeform fabrication The first techniques for rapid prototyping became available in the 1980s and were used to produce models and prototype parts Thanks to advanced and affordable technology, professionals in many different fields now rely on rapid prototyping—architects to create models, industrial designers to make first-draft prototypes, and even artists to sculpt complex shapes for fine arts The process of rapid prototyping takes virtual designs from a CAD model, transforms them into virtual cross sections, and creates each cross section in physical space one after the next until the model is finished This is often done by layering liquid and powdered material for each section and using glue or a laser; the material is fused together as shown in Figure 7.19 Figure 7.19 3D physical models can be printed directly from a digital model Please purchase PDF Split-Merge on www.verypdf.com to remove this watermark 225 44831.book Page 226 Friday, October 12, 2007 12:31 AM 226 CHAPTER CONCEPT MASSING STUDIES The most common file format for sending this data is stl You can 3D-print a Revit model by exporting it first to dwg and then printing to stl from 3ds Max, AutoCAD, Inventor, or other software that supports stl exporting Figure 7.20 shows a rapid prototype model of an unbuilt Louis Kahn building Figure 7.20 Hidden-line view, shaded view, sectional 3D view, and a rapid prototype physical model from the same Revit model Images courtesy of Simone Cappochin Please purchase PDF Split-Merge on www.verypdf.com to remove this watermark 44831.book Page 227 Friday, October 12, 2007 12:31 AM THE BOTTOM LINE The Bottom Line Projects begin with broad, gestural strokes that are eventually refined with more detail The ability to quickly generate conceptual 3D massing forms aids in the development of a project With Revit, you can make parametric abstract mass forms and use those forms downstream in your process as the design progresses Understanding massing workflows supported by Revit Using generic forms, you can create early conceptual models and then use the mass to create the walls, floors, and roofs Master It You need to explore a design idea early on, in 3D, using abstract forms How would you this with Revit? Creating massing elements in the project environment and Family Editor In the project environment, you can make massing forms at any time For generic forms that might appear in multiple projects, consider using the Family Editor and create Mass Families Master It You’ve imported a 2D site plan, and now you need to start building up a massing study model in the project How would you approach this with Revit? Understanding how massing can be used downstream as the design progresses Making a mass is one thing, but leveraging that mass for quantity take-offs can further aid and inform the design process Master It Once you’ve settled on a basic massing study, what information can you derive from it? How can this be represented? Please purchase PDF Split-Merge on www.verypdf.com to remove this watermark 227 ... purchase PDF Split-Merge on www.verypdf.com to remove this watermark 207 4 483 1.book Page 2 08 Friday, October 12, 2007 12:31 AM 2 08 CHAPTER CONCEPT MASSING STUDIES When you select this button, all masses... purchase PDF Split-Merge on www.verypdf.com to remove this watermark 217 4 483 1.book Page 2 18 Friday, October 12, 2007 12:31 AM 2 18 CHAPTER CONCEPT MASSING STUDIES 11 Open the front elevation view, and... tools to support the concept of Building Maker—a term that doesn’t exist in the Revit UI but is commonly adopted among Revit users to describe the process of converting a concept massing into a real