Forums >> General Discussion >> Revit Project Management >> Modular Wall Panels

mlennon

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Joined: Tue, Apr 8, 2008
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Hi there,

In our office we're trying to figure out how to start a modular wall and ceiling panel project (Clean Rooms and Labs) in Revit which will then be used to produce construction documents and shop drawings for manufaturing these panels.

There will be several different types of wall and ceiling panels that will have various different features added to them. We're trying to think of a path forward as far as developing the wall panel families, capability to insert doors and windows into these families, showing the wall panel joints, scheduling, material takeoffs, ect., while still maintaining the ability to use Revit as a design tool.

Could anyone suggest an overall approach with regards to setting up parameters, schedules and models?

Thanks,

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TomDorner

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Joined: Sun, Apr 25, 2004
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There are many options that one can take to model these.

Anytime I here the word "modular" I tend to think of using the curtain wall tool.  Curtain walls can be set to use either a wall type or panel type.  If you set to wall type then you can simply insert standard Revit door.   If you make custom panels you would have to create panels with doors embedded or use curtain panel doors.  You could also create a specific family type for the modular walls, but they cannot be assigned to the wall category in Revit since that is reserved for system family walls. 

The ceilings are a bit tricky.  The could be made via a curtain system tool modeled on top of a mass.  They could be a simple Revit ceiling sketch copied or arrayed as required.  They could be a specific loadable family that is level based with an offset. 

The method you choose depends on how you want to model, how you want to schedule, do you want to render etc. etc.   Do yur research and be sure to test out in sample project to validate your choice before committing to a method.

HTH 

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Tom

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mlennon

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Joined: Tue, Apr 8, 2008
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Thanks for the insight!

We were thinking about doing this the way that you've described and think that it could work well. To make this even more complicated we have to be able to insert an electrical chase at random areas within the panel; most vertical and some horizontal. I was thinking of using mullions for this but i need a way to link the chases to its specific panel type and to the schedule. i know that you can do horizontal reveals in the section of the wall types but can you insert a vertical reveal or chase into a wall type? or is this easiest by somehow inserting a component into the panel. we want to be able to see all of the vertical chases in the floor plan.

Thanks!

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TomDorner

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If you use curtain walls, they are easy to create but may not give you the granularity you desire for other purposes.  The vertical chase for example can be modeled as a mullion, but cannot be scheduled to a particular panel.  You could create a curtain panel type that has a vertical chase component that can be turned on/off and have an instance parameter to set its location within the panel.

Just FYI, be careful with using curtain walls set to use "wall" panels if you want to control corners with mitering as it won't happen.  You can create curtain panels though that have the miter built-in.

Like I said before, plan carefully and test before full implementation. 

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Tom

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mlennon

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 "You could create a curtain panel type that has a vertical chase component that can be turned on/off and have an instance parameter to set its location within the panel"

How can i insert a component into a system wall panel in a curtain system? When I select the curtain panel there is not option edit the family as it is a system family.

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TomDorner

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You have to create a new curtain panel family using the curtain panel family template.

I did a quick sample project that uses a custom curtain panel family with a nested generic model to represent the vertical chase.  An on/off parameter was added to the vertical chase to toggle on/off.  You can also set the offset from the edge of the nearest curtain wall line and also set the height of the chase to run as high above the panel as required.

The files are attached for you to look at and reverse engineer.  I used nesting and linking of parameters which is an advanced topic so hopefully it makes sense.

HTH

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lukej2000

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Joined: Sun, Jun 24, 2007
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You can actually make a loadable component with Category set to Walls:

http://whatrevitwants.blogspot.com/2011/10/create-component-family-with-category.html

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lukej2000

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<a href="http://whatrevitwants.blogspot.com/2011/10/create-component-family-with-category.html">What Revit Wants: Create a Component Family with Category set to Walls (or other system family category)</a>

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