Don’t Over-Kick the Revit Coverage
The simple solutions, especially if you aren't aware of them, are often the best—no matter their complexity!
First off let me expand on a piece of advice I try to live with:
Until the impossible time when we know everything, let alone “remember” everything in software X (Revit in this case) we need to keep our egos in check by not assuming or thinking that we know the best possible course to take. Even if that course worked in the past, there may still be new methods that are better, so keep an open mind and challenge even your own methods to see if further refinement and excellence can be achieved.
Keep a sense that you will learn something new and that it’s possible at any moment. Keep in mind that there is always something new to learn. Even for the "experts" (me included), this is a fight every day—using my supposed knowledge to function while keeping, always keeping, a view to the unknowns that repeatedly seem just out of sight… until they are realized ;)
If we think we know something, it is quite likely we are misrepresenting the facts with our beliefs and/or perceptions, which is too often a very tenuous foundation. If you do some reading on the Dunning-Kruger Effect you may find some pathways open to evaluating oneself and others.
Socrates, Einstein, Hitchens, and so many other normal and amazing people have kept a sense of unending growth and exploration of ideas. Unless we are greater than our greatest minds throughout all of history (and we are not), just back off from thinking we know anything, let alone everything. Philosophy 101, humility and reason!
I was dropping in on RevitForum.org a while back, as I am wont to do, and saw a post asking how to build a log building. I have seen many methods out there and yet I have never seen perhaps the simplest one, but does that mean it doesn't exist “out there”? No—it is just that I never saw one. So here's my solution that may be (read as: IS) often overlooked in Revit.
To create log walls, use Embedded Wall Sweeps! This will work beautifully in many, if not most, log cases.
Embedded Wall Sweeps
- Make a profile
- Save the profile ;)
- Load the Profile (Really Jay? Well, yeah... into a project as well... lol ;)
2. Edit/Duplicate a Wall family
- Set the wall thickness (to the flat part of the joints?)
- This is where one's geometry may need to be planned (As in: YES, PLAN THIS OUT!)
3. Set the embedded wall sweeps to the proper heights and offsets
- Notice the quick example I created would (probably) like to have its top and bottom sweeps to be different, depending on the design (Remember: PLAN THIS OUT!)
4. Hit Apply to see the preview (Use Section if you haven't stumbled onto that yet)
5. Hit "OK" until you are back in the project (Yes, an “OK & COMPLETE” button would STILL be useful in many Revit editing dialogs. Hear us, Dev Team?)
6. Use the walls :D
As my posting/reply in the forum said, this works unless the walls want to mitre. If that's the need, then either apply Wall Sweeps (or similar) to a flat wall or use a void to cut the ends off of these.
Enjoy, and consider that the simplest solution is often the best policy when it comes to workflows. Just be aware that this does not infer how complex a solution may or may not be—just that it’s the most effective (in this conversation: simplest) solution and is employed to maximize outcomes.
