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Changing wall materials across several families


Glen1980

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To match the old architecture surrounding our development we have 3 different external wall finishes and due to the height of it several strengths of concrete blocks as well as party walls with different strengths and finishes. This means that I have 23 different structural wall families as well as a dozen partition wall families.

 

First off is this normal practice with Revit to create a wall family for literally every wall type or are there workarounds we haven't found yet?

 

Secondly and more importantly, the planners late in the game have finally given us the brick finishes which I have downloaded from the manufacturer in revit format but I can't find a way of swapping common,brick material in all families for our chosen brick. Is there one or do I do it long hand?

 

Is there a way of picking a material and finding which families or elements in the model have it? Changing the brick manually has left me with 5.5m² I can't locate!

 

I also noticed my colleague hasn't used the manufacturers materials for the blocks or the insulation when we have it so I would like to change these for the right products if it can be done quickly.

Edited by Glen1980
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To match the old architecture surrounding our development we have 3 different external wall finishes and due to the height of it several strengths of concrete blocks as well as party walls with different strengths and finishes. This means that I have 23 different structural wall families as well as a dozen partition wall families.

 

First off is this normal practice with Revit to create a wall family for literally every wall type or are there workarounds we haven't found yet?

Yes it is normal practice - no workarounds. If the "type" is different in any way, it needs to be it's own Wall Type.

 

*EDIT*

Just to give you an idea... our Architectural template has about 50 different Wall Types, and those are the "standard" ones. The list can get big in a hurry, but that's perfectly okay because the more accurate you make your Walls, the better you can schedule them and the less RFI responses later. Architects are BAD about getting Wall Types wrong for decades and only a proficient and dedicated Revit designer can win that battle if he does it right the first time.

 

Secondly and more importantly, the planners late in the game have finally given us the brick finishes which I have downloaded from the manufacturer in revit format but I can't find a way of swapping common,brick material in all families for our chosen brick. Is there one or do I do it long hand?

 

Is there a way of picking a material and finding which families or elements in the model have it? Changing the brick manually has left me with 5.5m² I can't locate!

Just as long as all the Wall Types are referencing the same Material, this would be a global change if you edited the Material itself.
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Thanks Tannar

 

*EDIT*

Just to give you an idea... our Architectural template has about 50 different Wall Types, and those are the "standard" ones.

 

That's good to know, I held back from doing our more regular wall constructions with Render (Stucco in the States I think) and the various cladding systems we use on the odd occasion as I read somewhere not to overfill your template. Hopefully I will get better at the wall types and being an Architectural Technician rather than a fully fledged architect I hopefully have a better eye for construction detail!

 

Just as long as all the Wall Types are referencing the same Material, this would be a global change if you edited the Material itself.

 

They are but I was trying to find a way to swap one material for another. The manufacturers material had the thermal and structural info built in and I didn't want to replicate it in case of typo's, I can do detail but not so good with porof reading :P. In the end I went around all of the families and changed the materials. Downside is I have had to triple check all the families for this missing 5.5m² that is appearing in the materials take off! I think I'll do it your way next time :oops:

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....I read somewhere not to overfill your template....
You're not "overfilling" it if it's a necessary item. Walls are System Families anyways, so all that you're adding is a Wall Type which is informational. It's not like it's a Loadable Family where the more you load, the more you bloat.

 

Also note you can have a "cache" file that has every Wall Type imaginable (among other things) and have a "light" template where you use the Transfer Project Standards tool to insert other items you want. But it's a mass transfer so still the same as just having them all in your template to begin with. It's better to delete rather than create.

 

HTH

 

-Tannar

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I'll go back when I'm clear of my presentation (I have to present my work to the board to show what BIM and Revit can do for our company. :unsure: ) I figure that the template will always be a work in progress with the way they keep upgrading the regs over here. In a years time we have to be carbon neutral.

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Revit Templates are usually always a work in progress and never "complete".

 

If you'd like you can email me privately with your template and I can review it for you. :)

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