Curtain walls & glazing

Curtain walls - editing

• Project Browser menu (rhs)
• Curtain Panels (right down the bottom) - System Panels - make a copy and edit (need to double click)

NOTE: to change transparency for glass etc, need to uncheck the 'use render colour' box first to enable the slider...

• To edit peices of a curtain wall/roof, need to make sure you've added in some grid lines first to create a section, then click on that panel, and 'unpin' to edit the properties of that section...

Curtain walls - adding doors (or sash windows)

• To place a curtain wall door:
• make the size by making a panel of this size first (grids), though can adjust later but less potential for problems if you set the grids up first...
• select the panel only (have to use the TAB key otherwise will prob select the whole curtain wall), unlock - default will be locked
• then go to properties and select the door for this (will be found under the curtain wall glazing panels area, not in 'doors') (or sash window)
• The door (or window) will be as large as the panel ie. will expand or shrink to fit. To resize the door, you must resize the panel space instead.
• NB. the default appears to be for double glazing (2 panes of glass) - this appears in the materials editor area (appearance)

NB. if having problems loading curtain wall doors, open the component you want independent of the project as if you're going to edit it, then load into the project you want it in. Load family via the insert menu, not the architecture menu.

Crazy shapes - conceptual masses

File new - Conceptual Mass - Metric Mass

Set up your reference planes and levels
eg. for my media 'wall':

• Floor plan, start at level 1, draw a crazy line (bottom)
• Move to level 2, draw the other line (top)
• Select the 2 lines
• Create Form
• Load into project...
• Massing, Place Mass, select the one you've just created

Creating files for 3D printing or CNC!

3D Printing from Revit files

Need: Revit + STL plugin + Rhino (just to scale correctly)

1. Need plugin for STL exporting (free download from Autodesk site)
2. Make sure the model is 'watertight' and the walls will be at least 3mm (so for a 1:200 scale, a minimum of 600mm thick!). Make sure model is hollow so it doesn't cost too much (for 3D printing, otherwise don't worry)
3. Make sure you have the 3D view open in Revit and the scale you want exported (eg. 1:200)
3. Export as STL file (add-in menu item in Revit window)
4. NB. This exports your model in weird units (perhaps feet??) so have to open up the STL file created from Revit in Rhino (easiest option but probably could use 3dsmax), then scale:

Scaling in Rhino

• draw a line of a face you know the measurement for, as it should be, when scaled eg. 108.85mm (line, enter, draw line using shift key to keep straight, type in the unit before you click the final point, click enter)
• line up the model with this line (select, move using right mouse held down)
• select model
• click scale icon (or type in scale, enter)
• click on first origin point of the side you are measuring, then the second, then the end of the new line you have drawn to the scale you need - this should scale it to the correct size
• save as STL file
• hey presto you now have a correctly scaled file ready for 3D printing! :)

NB. the university 3D print machine max size for output =  210x210mm with a Depth of about 250mm

CNC machine for typography

1. Follow the revit steps as per above, for just the typography but don't need to worry about thicknesses of anything.
2. Export as a DXF file - if using Rhino at uni, make sure the version is older eg 2007
3. Open Rhino, open the file and the steps as above for scaling
4. Save as the default Rhino file type and send to the CNC machine as is.