Forums >> Revit Building >> Technical Support >> Razor Wire

jgmas

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Joined: Wed, Feb 9, 2005
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Does any one have an idea of how to create a parametric razor wire (3D) family?

Thanks 

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Typhoon

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Hummmm..... Interesting question.... I never thought about this, well, i never need this kind of object... in Rhino it's easy but in Revit, Parametric..... Line based Family.... Helicoidal wire in plan view.... hummm I don't know, it's a challenge...

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I Hope and I Wish to LEARN  more, and more, and more.... REVIT

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ambera

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alabaster2513

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i'm impressed

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erland73

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bwfshnfool

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This is amazing! Thank you so much

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millenario

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Thank you so much.

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ystergesig

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I feel like a total idiot for asking, but does anyone know how to tweak the diameter of the coil? I have limited Revit experience, and I really need this family in my project! Thanks in advance

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Shatner86

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Joined: Fri, Feb 24, 2012
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Hey,

To edit the diameter you need to open up the family "Spiral Line". Do this via the 'Project Browser'.

Families > Generic Models > Site > Spiral Line (right click and select "Edit")

The coil is broken down into three sweeps. No parameters were used so you have to do this manually. So...

Select the object and click on "Edit Sweep", then "Select Profile" and then "Edit Profile". Select the pink circle and change it's diameter. Click the green tick anf then select the green tick again. Repeat this for all three.

Then you load the family back into host family ("Load into Project") and your set.

Kind Regards,

Shatner86

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ystergesig

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Hi Mr. Shatner,

First off, thank you so much for taking the time to assist me.

I followed your instructions, and if I followed it correctly, it looks as though the actual wire diameter changes. This is not a bad thing, as the wire was too 'thick' anyway.

What I'm after is the actual diameter of the coil. (Dunno if that is the correct terminology) In metric terms, we usually work with a 500mm diameter. It's now in the region of 780mm.

Thanks again for your help!

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Shatner86

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Joined: Fri, Feb 24, 2012
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hi ystergesig,

Sorry it taken me so long to get back to you.

I wasn't sure how to adjust the family as you were hoping. So instead I created my own family. This was actually much more difficult than I thoguht. However it became a challenge to figure it out! Basically, I created three families. Coil 1, Coil 2 and Blades. The trick was to get the insertion point to be at the centre of the connection between Coil 1 & 2. Then lock (using the 'Spacing' Parameter) the connections between the array for when the size of the coil was adjusted. The attached family has the following parameters than can be adjusted. 

Radius of the Coil (Default 500mm)Wire Thickness (default 10mm radius)Array (default 12)

Do try and have a go at doing this yourself, as it took me a while to get all of the bugs worked out. It was basically a trial and error excercise most of the time. 

Any questions let me know. The version is 2014.

Kind Regards,

Shatner86

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"Try not to become a man of success, but rather to become a man of value"

-Albert Einstein

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ystergesig

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Hi Shatner86,

Thank you so much for your assistance and time thus far.

The last question I have is: How do you reduce the size and increase the amount of blades? When I set the coil radius to 250mm, the blades are really big as shown on my 1st screenshot. Screenshot 2 shows you how far I get, but this is where I'm stuck. I tried to modify the sketch lines after unlocking the constraints, but it doesn't work.

Thanks again for your help!

Attached Images

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Shatner86

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Joined: Fri, Feb 24, 2012
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Hey ystergesig,

I hadn't really drawn them with that in consideration tbc. But lets take a look...

Ok I got it to work.

Firstly, size of the blade.

So, to start. To change the height of the blade, easiest method would be the change the "Cal" parameter's calculation (within the blades family). So I have it as 'Radius + 100'. Change it to like Radius + 50 and you get a smaller blade.

To change the width, what I did just now was to convert the dimensions into a type parameter. So I changed both of the 35mm to "Bottom Half" and both of the 89mm dimension to "Top Half". Then within the Type parameters I just fiddled with the numbers to get it to a better size. (See attached)

NOTE: You have change the dimensions in the other blade extrusions within the family!

You could carry this functionaility through to the host family, if you like. Make parameters instance and link them within the "Coil" families as instance parameters. 

Second question, the number of blades, well I'd do what I did to create them. So select the reference line and the blade extrustion and rotate from the origin point in the centre. (See attached)

NOTE: The blades have a visibility controls applied to them, so whatever you do to the top half repeat on the bottom.

Hope that helps. 

Kind Regards,

Shatner86

Attached Images

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"Try not to become a man of success, but rather to become a man of value"

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ystergesig

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Hi Shatner86,

That fixed it! Thank you so much for helping me out. I've learned valuable skills through this exercise.

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