Autodesk Revit Architecture 2011 No Experience Required - part 28 pot

Picking Walls The best way to add a slab is to use the Pick Walls button as much as possible see Figure 6.8.. In the Modify | Create Floor Boundary tab, click the Pick Walls button, as

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F i g u R e 6 3 Clicking the Edit Type button to start creating a new floor slab

F i g u R e 6 4 Renaming the current floor You will never have a Generic 12″

floor in your model, so it is a good idea not to keep this floor around.

You are now in the Edit Assembly dialog This is where you can specify a thick-ness for your slab You can add layers of materials here as well

F i g u R e 6 5 Clicking the Edit button to access the structure of the floor

In the middle of the Edit Assembly dialog is a large spreadsheet-type field that

is divided into rows and columns The rows are defined by a structural

compo-nent, and include a boundary above and below the structure It is the Structure

row that we are interested in here:

1 You will see that the Structure row is divided into columns Click into

the Material column within the Structure row, as shown in Figure 6.6

2 You will see a small […] button appear when you click into the

Material cell This is an indication that you will be given a menu if

selected Click the […] button

F i g u R e 6 6 By clicking in the Material cell within the Structure row, you

can access the Materials dialog.

O

the term layer may

throw you off a bit revit uses layer here to describe a component of the floor this is not to

be mistaken with the autoCaD layer.

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3 You can now choose a material from the menu Scroll down until you

arrive at Concrete - Cast-in-Place Concrete, and select it Notice that to the right you can see that this material will display two different hatches There is a sand hatch that will be visible for floor plans, and a concrete hatch that is visible for sections (see Figure 6.7) These hatches allow a filling region to graphically designate specific materials

F i g u R e 6 7 The Materials menu

4 Make sure Concrete - Cast-in-Place Concrete is selected, and click OK.

5 Directly to the right of the Material column is a Thickness column

Currently there is a value of 1′–0″ Click into the cell that says 1′–0″,

and change it to 6″

T I P If you just type 6 and press enter, you will wind up with a 6′–0″- thick slab Be sure to add the inch (″) mark after the 6 the value needs to read 6″.

6 Click OK.

7 Click OK again to get back to the model.

Now that the slab has been created, we can place it into the model You will notice

that your Design bar has changed to Edit mode You will now proceed to sketch the

slab in place

sketching the slab

You will have to adjust to the way Revit wants you to proceed with the Create Floor

Boundary tab; you are basically limited to the choices provided in this menu Not

to fear, you should have plenty of choices, but you will still need to get a “feel” for

how Revit works

Here’s what needs to happen: you must draw the perimeter of the slab into

the model Because this is basically a slab on grade, we will pour the concrete

to the inside finished face of the wall We won’t worry about a control joint

between the wall and the slab at this point

Picking Walls

The best way to add a slab is to use the Pick Walls button as much as possible (see

Figure 6.8) In doing so, you tell Revit that this edge of slab needs to move if this

wall moves

Let’s start sketching the slab:

1 In the Modify | Create Floor Boundary tab, click the Pick Walls button,

as shown in Figure 6.8

F i g u R e 6 8 Pick Walls ensures that that edge of your slab will move if the wall moves.

2 With the Pick Walls tool running, hover your mouse over the inside

face of the wall, as shown in Figure 6.9

3 After the wall becomes highlighted and you are sure you are on the

inside of the wall, pick it (see Figure 6.9)

4 With the inside face of the wall picked, you need to move on to the

next wall Pick the inside face of the north wall

Notice that as you pick the walls, a magenta “sketch line” appears

on the inside face of the walls This is another indicator telling you

whether you are on the correct side of the wall

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WatC h Wh at yo u pi C k!

As you pick the walls to place your edge of slab, be careful If you do not pick the inside face, there is a chance Revit will try to extend the slab to the core of the wall If you zoom into the area that you are picking, you will see an alignment line appear Make sure this line is where you want it, as shown in the following image:

5 Keep picking the walls, as shown in Figure 6.10 You need to have a

continuous loop— no gaps and no overlaps

6 Apply some basic modify commands as well For the right lower

cor-ner, use the Trim command to clean the corner For the bottom line where the jog occurs, use the Split Element command (make sure the Delete Inner Segment button is checked on the Options bar)

7 After you have picked the perimeter of the west wing, click Finish

Edit Mode on the Modify | Create Floor Boundary tab, as shown in Figure 6.11 It may be a good idea to check out your model in 3D just

to make sure nothing went wrong (I constantly have to do that.)

F i g u R e 6 9 Picking the inside face of the first wall

F i g u R e 6 1 0 Selecting the walls

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F i g u R e 6 1 1 Clicking Finish Edit Mode to finalize the floor sketch

us i n g Fl i p ar roWs

If you accidentally picked the wrong place in the wall, that’s OK Press Esc, then select the magenta line, and a flip arrow will appear Pick the flip arrow, and the magenta line will flip back to the correct face of the wall, as shown in the following image Also, if other sketch lines are on the wrong face, this one flip will take care of any connected sketch lines

When you finish the floor, you will have plenty of opportunity to practice

add-ing floors in this model! We need to add a floor to the corridor as well as the

west wing:

1 Zoom into the corridor, as shown in Figure 6.12.

2 On the Home tab, start the Floor command.

Cl e a n up th os e Co r n e r s!

Revit Architecture won’t let you finish if you have a gap or an overlapping

line If you get the error shown in the following image, you need to go back

into your sketch and see which corner is giving you trouble If you do get

the error dialog, you can click the Show button to have Revit show you

where the issue is

3 In the Modify | Create Floor Boundary tab, click the Pick Walls button.

4 Pick the three north walls of the corridor Remember to keep the

magenta line to the inside face (see Figure 6.12)

5 To add the east edge of the slab, Revit will not really let you pick the

wall If you do, the magenta line will go either to the core center line

or to the opposite face of the wall At this point, click the Line button

on the Modify | Create Floor Boundary tab, as shown in Figure 6.13

6 With the Line button selected, select the Pick Lines button on the

Draw panel, as shown in Figure 6.14

7 Pick the face of the east wall as shown in Figure 6.14.

8 On the Draw panel, click the Pick Walls button.

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F i g u R e 6 1 2 Picking the north walls of the corridor

F i g u R e 6 1 3 Sometimes you will need to click the Line button to draw the

edge of the slab freehand.

9 Pick the south corridor walls (Remember to keep the magenta line

to the inside of the corridor.)

10 Pick the west wall of the corridor This time you want to be sure that

the magenta line is to the left of the wall This will ensure that the two slabs meet If not, you may need to use that flip arrow we were talking about earlier (see Figure 6.15)

Now that you have the process of adding sketch lines to the model, you can start to look into how to clean up the sketch so we can finish

F i g u R e 6 1 4 Picking the face of the east wall The line will run past the

corridor That’s OK You will trim it in a moment.

F i g u R e 6 1 5 Adding the slab edge to the left side of the west corridor wall