S11 Creating Pipe Fittings in Revit MEP-Jose Fandos_Handout
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Session 11
C reating Pip ipe e Fit ittting ings s in Revit MEP MEP J ose Fan and dos, An Ande dek kan an,, LLC.
C la las ss Desc Descr ript iption ion Pipe fitt fittin ings gs are the one o ne of o f the most c ompl omp lex and mis misunder unde rstood too d component families in Revit. This presentation will begin by outlining the key considerations and major steps for creating pipe fitting families in Revit MEP. Attendees will then be led through a hands-on process of creating their o wn pipe p ipe fitti fittings ngs family family fro fro m sc sc ra tch. tc h.
About the Speaker:
J ose ose Fa Fa ndos is the the founde founderr and C EO of o f Andek Ande kan, a company co mpany dedica de dica ted to Revit Revit c ontent onte nt c rea tion tion and a nd mana ma nage gement. ment. Sinc inc e 200 2008, J ose has led A ndek nde ka n in providing providing Revit content c ontent servi servic c es to major ma jor AEC AEC fir firms, ms, manufac manufa c turers turers,, and softwa re mak ma kers. ers. Pri Prior to to founding fo unding Ande A ndek ka n, J ose wor wo rked a s a C A D mana ger ge r in the UK, UK, where he led his his fir firm's m's a doption do ption of of Revit. evit. He la la ter served erved a s c o-founde o-fo underr a nd C TO of Broutek Broutek Ltd., Ltd., a pioneeri pione ering ng start-up tart-up in Revit Revit conte c ontent nt cr c rea tion. tion. J ose is c onsi onsid ered one of the industr industry' y's s most most knowled knowledge gea a ble Revit Revit content c ontent cr c rea tors tors, and a nd is a member of the AE A EC (UK) (UK) BIM BIM Sta Stand nda a rd s C o mmittee mmittee a nd the UK C har ha rtered Insti Instituti tutio o n of Building Building Servic ervic es Eng Enginee ineerrs (C IBS IBSE) Br Brea kout Gr G ro up on Revit C o ntent Sta Stand nda a rd s. J ose ose lilives and wor wo rks in London, ondo n, and c an usual usuallly be found at meetings meetings of the Londo Lond o n Revit Revit Us User Gr G ro up. up . Email: j Email: jos ose.fandos e.fandos@ @a ndekan. ndekan.c c om Blog: andekan. a ndekan.c c om/blog om/ blog Twi Twitt tter er:: @josefando osefandos s
C rea ting ting Pipe Fitti itting ngs s in Re Revit vit ME M EP J ose ose Fando s, And ekan, LL LLC .
In this lab we will create a pipe fitting, in this case an elbow, from scratch. While doing so we will cover a number of issues that apply to all other pipe fittings. Let’s Let’ s sta start rt..
1. Selecting a template. For pipe fittings the best template to use is the Generic Non-Hosted template.
2. Setting up all the metadata. mily Ca C a tegor tego ry and Par Pa ra meters meters. 2a . Fa mil 1 ) Open the Family Category and Parameters dialog box. 2 ) Se lec t the Revit C a tego teg o ry for the fitting fittings s. This This will b e Pipe Fitti Fitting ngs s. 3 ) C hoose ho ose the Par Pa rt Type Type unde r Fa Fa mily mily Pa ra meter mete rs. The The right Pa rt Type Type for
this elbow will be the eponymous Elbow part type.
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4) Optiona lly, selec t the c orresponding O mniC lass. We will set it to the old
23.60.30.11.14 Pipe wo rk Fittings.
2b. Family Types. Let’s create a type. Following Autodesk’s examples here, with no reason to de viate, let’s c all our type “Standard”.
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Next, let’s enter the parameters that we will use for the creation of the pipe fitting. The list is shown b elow. The list be low c omes from experienc e. It will take you no more than a handful of fittings to know them by heart. The shorthand prec ed ing eac h pa rameter is what we will use in the Loo kup Table we will create next. Nominal Diameter
Piping
Pipe Size
Dimensions
Nominal Rad ius
Piping
Pipe Size
Dimensions
Angle
C ommon
Angle
Dimensions/Other
Fitting Outside Diame ter
Piping
Pipe Size
Dimensions
Fitting Outside Rad ius
Piping
Pipe Size
Other
Piping
Pipe Size
Dimensions
C enter Rad ius
Piping
Pipe Size
Dimensions/Other
C enter to End
Piping
Pipe Size
Dimensions
Tick Size
The grouping of the pa rameters follows Autod esk’s tradition. It do esn’t mea n that it can’t be changed or that there is anything more to it than how the information is grouped. Having said that, and to clarify how Autodesk’s goes about it, Nominal Rad ius/ Diameter go always in Dimensions. Anything e lse, go es under Dimensions if it is c ontrolled by a Lookup Table formula. The exception would b e the C enter Radius and A ngle, which you might find in either Dimensions and Other with or without a Loo kup Table formula driving the parameter. Again, there is no need to follow this at all. But if you have no rea son to deviate from it, might a s well follow it. We will also enter the Loss Method (K Coeffic ient from Table) a nd c hoose a K C oefficient Table (Reg ular 45, 90 and 180 Elbow). While we are a dd ing d ata to the family we might as well enter any other information that we might have at hand for use in the Identity Data group. At a minimum, if this is a generic family, we can enter “Generic” under the Manufac turer field, unless this c onflicts with our comp any’s stand ards. The Assembly C od e c an also be entered at this stage if you know it.
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Finally, we need to take c are of the formulas that relate one pa rameter to another. Before we do that however, we need to look at the geometry and exac tly what relation we w ant.
At this point, let’s save the family with the name Elbow RTC USA.rfa
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3. C rea ting 3D G eo metry Now that the pa rameters and data are c ompleted, we nee d to look at the ge ome try. With pipe fittings, we will draw the fittings on the referenc e level (plan view). Primary connec tor will always sit on the left side of the view. The po sition of the c enter of the fitting will be de fined b y the intersec tion of the referenc e planes Center (Left/Right) (CLR from here on) a nd Center (Front/Back) (CFB from here on). The p osition of that intersec tion within the
family will affec t the beha vior of the family within a projec t. Gene rally, it sits at the intersection of lines drawn from the center of the connectors as shown in the images be low.
For the elbo w we are going to build, below there is a seq uenc e of imag es showing how the lines perpendicular to the connectors maintain their intersec tion at the intersec tion of the CLR and CFB planes.
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The thic k lines are perpendic ular to the c onnec tors and meet at the c rossing of the referenc e p lanes CLR (vertic al da shed line) a nd CFB (horizontal da shed line). The length of eac h of the blue lines, being the same, will be our C e n t e r t o En d length.
The 3D geo metry for the elbo w will be a sweep . We will use this for the fine level of detail. In order to draw the sweep and ha ve it constrained as in the images abo ve, we will need to add two referenc e p lanes – ref. plane #2 and #3 as shown in the images below – defining the center of the arc we will use to draw the pipe. Note that we are a dd ing referenc e p lane #1. This referenc e plane is not nec essary for the ge neric version of this family (sinc e we could make do with ref. plane #2 alone), but we will need it later for an update to the family. Let’s draw the three reference planes. We should end up with something that looks like the image on the right, below.
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After drawing the 3 referenc e planes we a dd dimensions to them. The dimension from reference plane #1 to the CLR plane will be labe lled with the parameter C e n t e r to En d . The same go es for ref. p lane #2. The dimension used from ref. plane #3 to CFB will be labe lled as C e n t e r Ra d iu s.
With the dimensions in plac e, let’s now d raw the swee p (C rea te > Sweep > Sketch Path). Starting by sketching the path, we will use the C enter-end s Arc tool to draw and arc from its center at the intersection of ref. planes #2 and #3.
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With the path selec ted we will turn on its C enter Mark Visible option and proc eed to align the c enter of the arc to both ref. planes #2 and #3 and loc k them.
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Next, while still in this mod e, we will move the referenc e plane for the profile of the sweep over to ref. plane #1 so that it is ea sier to work on it later on. Following that, we will make the angle a nd radius dimensions permanent and then label ea c h of them with the Angle a nd C e n t e r Ra d iu s parameters respec tively.
With this c ompleted, click on Finish Edit Mode to finish the path and then Edit Profile -> Elevation: Left. Draw a c irc ular profile and loc k the c enter (make it visible by chec king C enter Mark Visible) to the ref. plane s defining the profile. Make the rad ius dimension p ermane nt and label it with Fitting O utside Radius pa rameter. C lic k on Finish Edit Mode twice (once to acc ept the c hanges to the profile a nd the next one to a c c ept the c hanges to the swee p). Double clic k on the Ref. Level view. You should see some thing like what is displayed below.
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Before we a re done with the sweep , let’s make sure it only ap pea rs at the fine level of detail by selecting the geometry and in the properties, ed iting the Visibility/G raphic Overrides and unchecking the Coarse and Me dium options.
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4. Formulas This is a goo d time to go b ac k to the Family properties and fill in the formulas and some default values. There is a relationship between C e n t e r to En d , the Angle and the C e n t e r Ra d iu s. Since we a re working on an elbo w, let’s c rea te be a multiple of this ge neric fitting so that we c an set the C e n t e r Ra d iu s to the Nominal Diameter. We c an then crea te it a long radius elbow b y setting 1.5 times the Nominal Diameter, or a short radius elbow the C e n t e r Ra d iu s to by setting it up to just the Nominal Diameter.
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C reating Pipe Fittings in Revit MEP J ose Fando s, And ekan, LLC .
By use of trigono metry we ge t the relation we are after. Drawing a series of lines to simplify the drawing and invoking SOH-CAH-TOA!! Or just the TOA! and we are d one: Tangent(Angle) = Opposite/ Ad jac ent. Through the trigonometric formula we ge t that C e n t e r to En d = C e n t e r Ra d iu s * ta n ( A n g le / 2 ). Let’s make this a long radius bend , too. With the formula
solved and knowing we want to have a long radius bend, we upda te the formulas within the Family Types dialog to suit. = Nominal Radius * 2
Nominal Diameter
3”
Nominal Rad ius
1.5”
Angle
45º
Fitting Outside Diame ter
3.3”
= Nominal Diame ter * 1.1
Fitting Outside Rad ius
1.65”
= Fitting Outside Diameter / 2
1.32”
= Fitting Outside Diameter * 0.4
C enter Rad ius
4.5”
= Nominal Diame ter * 1.5
C enter to End
1.864”
= C enter Radius * tan (Angle/ 2)
Tick Size
The fitting should now look like the image b elow.
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5. C reating 2D Geo metry We have now c overed the geometry in fine level of detail. Let’s add the coa rse and medium level of d etails. Following Autod esk’s OOTB co ntent, the coa rse a nd medium levels of detail will be o ne a nd the same a nd we will use model lines to draw them. See the image below for what we are going to crea te next. Notice wha t is it that we are c alling Tick Size. The first model line we will draw will be the arc that follows our previous sweep path. And a s such we will use the e xac t same proc ed ure to d raw it. J ust as we did with the path, let’s make the center visible and lock it to both reference planes #2 and #3. Next make its angle and radius dimensions pe rmanent, labelling them with Angle a nd C enter Radius respec tively.
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Next we need to a dd the tic ks. We start with the ones on the left that are always vertica l, in line with ref. p lane #1. Drawing just one line to the left of ref. plane #1, we dimension from its top extremity to the CFB ref. plane a nd again from the bottom extremity to the CFB ref. plane.
We now selec t the two dimensions and label both a s Tick Size. Finally, we align and loc k the tic k marks’ line to ref. plane #1. For the tic ks on the right, given that they will rotate and upda te size at the same time, we are going to save time b y using a reference line a s their ba se. We draw a referenc e line from the origin of the fa mily in the direc tion of the sec ond c onnec tor.
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We loc k the referenc e line to both CFB and CLR planes, add a n angular dimension from the reference line to the CFB plane a nd labe l this dimension with Angle. Next we d imension from o ne edg e of the referenc e line to the other one a nd labe l the d imension with C e n t e r to En d .
Next we draw the model line for the right ticks as shown in the image below, adding an angular dimension from the ticks line (model line) to the reference line and setting the va lue to 90º.
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Align the tic ks line to the end of the referenc e line and dimension the ed ges of the model line to the reference line just as we did with the model line for the left ticks.
Selec ting the a rc line, we hide the center of the a rc and c hange the visibility settings so that we only see the line in medium and coarse views and not in fine views. We also take the opportunity to set the model line as Not a Reference.
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C reating Pipe Fittings in Revit MEP J ose Fando s, And ekan, LLC .
Next we do the same with the model lines for the tic ks, with a slight c hange in the visibility settings where we will unchec k “Fine” unde r detail levels and also “Front/ Bac k” and “Left/Right” under View Spe c ific Display.
To finish the ge ometry, we selec t all the referenc e planes and set them as Not a Reference. Next we selec t the referenc e line, set it to Not a Referenc e as well and unc hec k its visibility setting.
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C reating Pipe Fittings in Revit MEP J ose Fando s, And ekan, LLC .
6. C onnectors The final step in the creation of the family is to ad d the connec tors. To plac e the connectors, a 3D view will be the best option. The first connector should be plac ed on the left side. Onc e p laced into the family we update the connector’s properties. Since we are creating a fitting, the first parameter to change will be the System C lassifica tion, c hanging it from its defa ult of Hydronic Suppy to Fitting. This greatly simplifies the p roperties dialog o f the connec tor. Next we a ssoc iate the Angle a nd Rad ius prope rties of the connec tor to the Angle a nd Nominal Radius pa rameters, respe ctively.
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We repeat the proc ed ure to a dd the o ther co nnec tor to the fitting. Finally, we link the two c onnec tors and we a re d one!
7. Lookup Tables With the generic fa mily done, we will now use it as the basis for a manufacturer-specific fitting. Below are the details of the manufacturer fitting we wa nt to create.
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With a loo kup table we c an feed the ma nufac turer spe c ific values into the family, To fa c ilitate the c rea tion o f the lookup table we c an make use o f the option to export family types which creates a .txt file that we can use as the ba sis for the final loo kup table. Before e xporting the family types we will add an add itiona l parameter to the fa mily, the C ut Length. C ut Length
Piping
Pipe Size
Dimensions
In Revit we do n’t wa nt to mod el the geometry that won’t be visible, so in the case o f a no-hub fitting like the o ne shown, we need to remove the length of the fitting from e ac h end that goes into the c oupling. The C ut Length pa rameter will keep that information for use within the family.
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C reating Pipe Fittings in Revit MEP J ose Fando s, And ekan, LLC .
To expo rt the family type s we selec t the Application icon >Expo rt > Family Types and c hoose a folder where to save the file. We c an save it to the desktop a nd a c c ept the default name given by Revit, whic h matches the family name.
Next we import the txt file that we’ve just crea ted into Excel: 1) O pe n Mic rosoft Exc el. 2) Open the file Elbow RTC USA.txt. Exc el will display the Text Import Wizard dialog bo x. 3) C hoose “Delimited ” and then press the Next button. 4) C hec k “Comma ” unde r Delimiters and press the Finish button.
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C reating Pipe Fittings in Revit MEP J ose Fando s, And ekan, LLC .
With this file we c an now de lete the c olumns that are not going to be necessary, change the order, and add the manufacturer data to it. For a doc ument explaining the c rea tion o f Loo kup Tables, chec k Martin Schmid’s AU 2008 class. You can find a link to the doc ument at http://inside-the-system.typepad.com/my_weblog/2008/11/revit-meptext_file_lookup-and-lookup-tables.html The end result would look similar like the imag e below once we’ve d eleted the columns that we won’t need and added the details for other angles.
The loo kup table has the same format as a type catalog, but the extension is different. Onc e finished ed iting the lookup table, we c an save it as a Windows C omma Sep arated Va lues file. Finally, we plac e the .c sv loo kup table file into the lookup table folder. The default folder is C :\ ProgramData\ Autodesk\ RME 2013\ Lookup Tables\ Pipe. With the lookup table in plac e, the family ca n now be upda ted to make use o f it. Page 23 of 24
C reating Pipe Fittings in Revit MEP J ose Fando s, And ekan, LLC .
Generic Nominal Diameter
= Nominal Radius * 2
Nominal Radius Angle Fitting O utside Diameter
= Nominal Diame ter * 1.1
Fitting O utside Rad ius
= Fitting Outside Diameter / 2 = Fitting Outside Diameter * 0.4
Tick Size C enter Radius
= Nominal Diame ter * 1.5
C enter to End
= C enter Radius * tan (Angle/ 2)
Manufacturer Specific Nominal Diameter
= Nominal Radius * 2
Nominal Radius Angle Fitting O utside Diameter
= text_file_lookup(Lookup Table Name, "FOD", Nominal Diameter * 1.08, Nominal Diameter)
Fitting O utside Rad ius
= Fitting Outside Diameter / 2 = Fitting Outside Diameter * 0.4
Tick Size C enter Radius
= C enter to End / tan(Angle / 2) = text_file_lookup(Lookup Table Na me, "C tE",
C enter to End
sin(Angle) * (0.51 * Nominal Diameter + 2.88"), Nominal Diameter, Angle)
We c an also now a dd Weight to the p arameter list and get the information from the loo kup table. A nd with that we are finished. Weight Weight
Structural
Forc e
Identity Data
= text_file_lookup(Loo kup Table Na me, "Wgt", 0 lbf, Nominal Diameter, A ngle)
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