Parametric Lego Pumpkin

This is my entry into Zach Kron's 6th Annual Parametric Pumpkin Competition.

http://buildz.blogspot.com.au/2014/10/6th-annual-parametric-pumpkin-carving.html

I have wanted to enter this Competition for a few years, I finally got my act together and put something together. The following is a bit of a journal of my entry.

Transparent Annotations

As a default on every Revit project transparent annotations should be used. The reason is highlighted below, if dimensions, tags, keynotes, or text are accidentally placed on top of one another than they will block out anything below and errors can occur.

• The top line of dimensions (Actual Dimensions) is shown with full strings of dimensions indicating the actual dimensions of the layout (too many dimensions for a real life project, but good for this example).
• The middle line of dimensions (Transparent Dimensions) is shown with transparent dimensions strings accidentally placed on top of one another, but the error can be identified easily with the garbled dimension in the middle.
• The bottom line of dimensions (Opaque Dimensions) is shown with opaque dimension strings accidentally placed on top of one another, the error is much harder to pick up without scrutinising the dimensions and could have major ramifications on site.

Using Opaque annotations on you project certainly has its place, especially when you have fill patterns on surfaces, having patterns overlapping your annotation can be hard to read. It is just better practice to have it set to transparent as default and change it to an opaque type where required.

Attaching Columns (Profiled Top)

As a default in Revit, when you attach a column to a roof (or another sloped element), the top of the column remains flat. If you would like the column top to be profiled to match the surface above you will need to adjust one of the instance parameters.

Firstly you will need to attach the column to the sloped surface, and then if you select the column, in the properties, go to the ‘Attachment Justification At Top’ and set it to ‘Maximum intersection’. The column will now have the top profiled to the sloped surface. 

You can also set this parameter to ‘Intersect Column Midline’ for the connection to be on the middle of the column.

This works for the base connection as well. Once the column is attached you will be able to change the ‘Attachment Justification At Base’ parameter in a similar fashion.

Attaching Columns

In Revit you can attach elements like walls or columns to roofs or floors. This process allows you to profile the tops and bottoms of these elements without using the Edit Profile tool.

There is an anomaly to be aware of when attaching columns. Columns remain in their attached position once detached.

In the example below I have a wall and a column that both have the same Base Offset above Level 1. They have been attached to the floor using the ‘Attach Top/Base’ tool.

When I select each element and use the ‘Detach Top/Base’ tool and the ‘Detach All’ option, the column’s base will remain at the floor level, changing the Base Offset to 0. The wall will revert back to its original base offset above the floor level.

This process works the same if the column is attached to a roof. Columns will stay at the attached level once detached.

When attaching walls and columns, the walls are the elements that will change their profile at the top or bottom once attached. Columns will remain flat at the top or bottom, but move up or down to the element that they are attaching to.

Columns don’t have the ability to ‘Edit Profile”, you would have to use a void to profile the top or bottom of columns.