revit handrail design

You are here: Home / Revit / Revit Architecture / Revit Family / Using Reference Plane in 3D Revit Families

Using Reference Plane in 3D Revit FamiliesJanuary 11, 2010 by Edwin Prakoso — 2 Comments

We have created a very simple table as Revit family. As you suspect, it’s not that different using

parameters in Revit 2D profile and Revit 3D families. When you begin to create complex Revit family, with

more solid/void objects to handle, then you need to create a reference planes/lines to minimize the

parameters number. It is also easier to manage.

Let’s take a look at this truss as an example. I created this truss with several sweeps (You can download it

if you want to see it). I need to use reference planes to control the truss size and angle. We can’t do it just

using angle and distance parameters.

AUTOCAD AUTOLISP REVIT MICROSTATION INVENTOR

SEARCH THE SITE ...

HOME STORE EMAIL NEWSLETTER WRITE FOR CADNOTES ADVERTISE

ABOUT

of 13Using Reference Plane in 3D Revit Families | CADnotes

8/31/2015http://www.cad-notes.com/using-reference-plane-in-3d-revit-families/

Let’s get started.

Create a Profile

Why are we creating a profile again? We are going to create several sweeps. Instead of drawing the profile

every time, we are going to draw it once, as a profile family. We can use it later when creating our sweeps.

Create a new family. Use Metric Profile.rft as a template (or without metric in template name if you use

imperial). Draw a 30×30 rectangle like this.

Pay attention where I put the insertion point. You may put it in different position, but remember that one of

the edge midpoint have to touch the insertion point.

Save it. Give it a name like ‘baluster panel profile’ or something else you like. Don’t forget where you save it (I

often forget my file location, so basically I try to remind myself).

Creating Baluster Panel

Defining Planes

Create a new family again. This time, use Metric Baluster-Panel.rft as a template. Yes, we are going to

create a baluster panel, which we will use to assemble a railing later.

The template already has several reference planes. But we will add three more.

SEARCH THE SITE ...


ABOUT



Activate reference plane tool.

Draw more horizontal and vertical reference planes like this. Don’t forget to add dimensions, and constraint

them to be in equal distance.

SEARCH THE SITE ...


ABOUT



Now we have to add one more reference plane to anticipate when this panel is placed in stair, and have

angle. Add a reference plane, make sure it’s snapped to the planes intersection at the center of this panel.

Make sure it’s snapped before you click to define the point.

Move your pointer and make sure you create a parallel line to the slope plane. You should see the parallel

symbol on your pointer.

SEARCH THE SITE ...


ABOUT



Press [esc] several times until you see the active tool now is modify tool. Click the last plane, and drag the

plane end until they have about the same length with the slope angle plane.

Add an angular dimension (it’s on detail tab) to define the angle between the last plane and the mid

horizontal plane.

After you add the angular dimension, select the dimension and change it to slope angle.

Change the parameters value to see if it works as expected.

Defining Sweeps

Now activate the sweep tool. On Revit ribbon, click the small arrow below the solid button, then select the

sweep button from drop down menu.

SEARCH THE SITE ...


ABOUT



Now we are in sweep creation mode. We need to create a sweep path first. Click the sketch path from your

Revit Ribbon: sweep contextual tab, mode panel.

Revit will ask you in which work plane you want to work with. OK, this is a tip how you can select the work

plane by name: Select the work plane, and you should see the plane in blue rectangle in your screen. If you

only see blue line, then change it to another work plane until you see the rectangle.

SEARCH THE SITE ...


ABOUT



Click OK.

This is important:

Our sweep path will respond to the reference plane changes when we change the parameters.

We want this path to stick to the reference plane intersections, so make sure you snap the line

to the reference plane intersections. Press [S] then [I] to override your snap mode to point

intersection mode.

Make your path like this. Then click finish path.

Now pay attention to the line with red dot, perpendicular to the path. That’s where we supposed to draw the

profile. Can you imagine how difficult to do it?

“SEARCH THE SITE ...


ABOUT



But don’t worry, we can use the profile we created before!

Click select profile from your Revit ribbon.

Now from your Revit ribbon, select the profile you’ve created before. Of course, if you haven’t loaded it, you

need to load it by clicking ‘load profile’ first.

You may need to see how the profile is placed in 3D view. Make sure the profile lies inside the closed path.

You can change the angle and/or flip your profile using option bar.

Tips: try to use 90 deg or 270 deg. You may want to make sure by seeing it from 3D view or

other elevation views.

Click finish sweep.

Create another sweep like similar like we created before. Finish the baluster panel like this.

“

SEARCH THE SITE ...


ABOUT



You can see the baluster in 3D like this.

Don’t forget to ‘flex’ the model by changing the angle and height to see if it works!

After you finish, change the Baluster Height to 500, and Width to 400. You can download and compare

mine to your panel here.

You might also like

Creating Railing Definition

Creating a Simple Table Family

Creating Profile Parameters

SEARCH THE SITE ...


ABOUT



Filed Under: Revit Family

About Edwin Prakoso

I work as an Application Engineer in Jakarta, Indonesia. I've been using AutoCAD

since R14 and Revit since Revit Building 9. I occasionally write for AUGIWorld

magazine and also active in Autodesk discussion forum.

I'm certified as Revit Architecture 2014 and AutoCAD 2014 certified professional.

Connect with me on twitter or LinkedIn

Comments

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Name *

Email *

Website

1 Shares 0 0 0 0 1

SEARCH THE SITE ...


ABOUT



twitter (Without @)

Comment

POST COMMENT

Confirm you are NOT a spammer

Notify me of replies to my comment

Also subscribe me to CADnotes newsletter. I want to receive new articles in my mailbox!

INZU PK says

January 4, 2014 at 9:58 am

Hi,

when i make the slop angle parameter for new central inclined plane, it shows the planes are over

contrained.

when i would like to change width and height to flex model, then also i get wrong message.

Reply

Johnny Rikard Anders says

March 8, 2010 at 7:55 pm

det er underlig at plane oversettes til fly her, da det er et adjektiv rett oversettelse skulle vel da

være: overflate nivå

SEARCH THE SITE ...


ABOUT



Reply

GET CONNECTED

FEATURED

Work Better with AutoCAD | challenge 6: Plan your drawing!

In this Work Better with

AutoCAD challenge, Paul

Munford shares how to

plan your drawing. With good planning, you can

complete the drawing effectively!

10+ Ways to Use AutoCAD Object Selection

Do you think selecting

objects in AutoCAD is

difficult? We show you

10+ ways to do it in this

article!

© 2009 – 2015 CADnotes · Feedback · Privacy Policy · Become an affiliate · Advertise

SEARCH THE SITE ...


ABOUT



SEARCH THE SITE ...


ABOUT



revit handrail design

Documents

reference plane tool

d revit familiesjanuary

complex revit family

reference planeslines

d families

d profile

vertical reference planes

slope plane