3D drawings Autocad/Revit

[Solvax]

Hello people,

 

I want to make 3D drawings.

I have extended knowledge of some 3D rendering programs.

I only have limited knowledge of AutoCAD and I have no experience with Revit.

 

I work for a manufacturer of drainage pipes. We want to make 3D drawings of our products and their connection with different building materials and layers as part of instructions and support to building designers. We made some 3D drawings in AutoCAD and used a section panes to show details. An example of such a drawing is a pipe through a flat roof which shows the connections with the membranes on the roof, the insulation and the mounts..

 

But as the workflow evolves.. more and more architects and engineers start to work in Revit.

 

It's unclear to me how to make details in revit.

Can these details be made in Revit?

Is it useful to convert/redraw them in revit?

 

Thank you for sharing your oppinion!

[tzframpton]

I would not use Revit for anything related to manufacturing. Look into SolidWorks, Autodesk Inventor or Autodesk Fusion 360.

 

-TZ

[Solvax]

Hi TZ,

 

thanks for your reply!

The drawing is all about the connection with different roofing layers and not so much about the product itself.

 

How can a Revit-user draw a pipe through a roof with the proper connections to the different roof layers.. are these drawings made this much in detail usually?

[SLW210]

I do this from time to time in AutoCAD. Not sure if it would be easier with the new AutoCAD 2019 All-in-One or not, I believe it has tool sets for all the verticals except Civil 3D. Is 3D necessary? Sounds like you just need the 2d sections. I would think it would be a lot of work to 3D Model all the roof layers, etc.

 

Maybe show an example of what you need.

 

Like mentioned, this sounds like a job for Solidworks or Inventor, etc.

[tzframpton]

Hi TZ,

 

thanks for your reply!

The drawing is all about the connection with different roofing layers and not so much about the product itself.

 

How can a Revit-user draw a pipe through a roof with the proper connections to the different roof layers.. are these drawings made this much in detail usually?

Honestly, in Revit, they're done in 2D in regards to details. Again, you don't need Revit to produce details related to this. AutoCAD is fine, or if you want fancy pants 3D details, I'm going to continue suggesting the programs above. Revit will only hinder your ability to produce great 3D details as it's not really designed to do detail of this degree.

 

-TZ

[Solvax]

Great, thank you for your explanation.

[f700es]

I was going to say Inventor as well. Doesn't Revit have a way to bring in Inventor items as Families and such?

[tzframpton]

I was going to say Inventor as well. Doesn't Revit have a way to bring in Inventor items as Families and such?

Technically, "yes", but... no. If that makes sense.

 

 

In the O.P.'s application it's details only, so no need at all to be brought into Revit.

 

-TZ

[f700es]

OH I thought he wanted to make 3D models for revit use. My bad.

[Solvax]

It’s 3D details yes.

Maybe a better question would be if there is an advantage to import it into revit.

Do architects and buildingdesigners go this much into detail in a revit model?

[Solvax]

OH I thought he wanted to make 3D models for revit use. My bad.

Exactly. This is what I wanted to do. But I wonder if this is a practise that is already done for this kind of models. Maybe it’s too detailed for a revit model?

[tzframpton]

Exactly. This is what I wanted to do. But I wonder if this is a practise that is already done for this kind of models. Maybe it’s too detailed for a revit model?

It's too detailed, and it won't really work right. You have three different types of 3D Revit Families, but only two that really mean anything: Loadable Families, and System Families. Pipes are system Families, therefore cannot be "downloaded and loaded". They're a part of the Revit platform itself. Think of it as a style, so to speak. Loadable Families are externally saved and brought into the platform and are not a part of the platform itself. Like a chair - this can be considered a manufacturer's content that is uploaded to a website, downloaded and loaded into Revit.

 

What you're trying to do is create details of System Families which really can't be done per se. Roofs are also System Families. So if you modeled a pipe penetrating a roof, people who brought this into their project would have to remap a pipe to match their own (which they won't bother doing) and they'd simply delete the roof itself because that's done by the architect, and if the architect wanted to do this, he's not going to remap your basic generic roof type to his. Drawing a pipe in Revit is as simple as a 1, 2 click.

 

It's not that it's impossible to do, I'm just suggesting to you that it's not really a viable road to go down. The intent is well appreciated but it's just not how Revit works. Best thing you could do is simply create some typical 2D details in Revit, contained in a project that's available for end users to download and import into their project. BUT... people are finicky about this because now they'll want to remap their text styles, leader styles, linework, etc. Your 2D details will be considered tainted content since it won't match their standard.

 

Us Revit users can just as easily take 2D DWG's and leverage the linework and rework the text/leaders to fit our own standards. We do it all the time. I guess I'm taking the time to say you can do it all you want but it won't be of much value at all to the overall Revit user base. But definitely appreciated!

 

-TZ