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Forums >> Revit Structure >> Technical Support >> Dormers on complex roofs

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Wed, Sep 14, 2011 at 10:56:30 AM | Dormers on complex roofs

#1

mccoolj


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Ok, maybe this isn't a complex roof for some out there, but compared to our normal flat roofs or simple gabled roofs, this is killing me. I have a long narrow building with a multiple-pitched gable down the length. It starts out at 4:12 pitch at the eaves (Level 2 DBE in my model) and then changes to 12:12 pitch about halfway up (I called that Level 3 DBE in my model). I have a Level 4 DBE where I need my ridge to be. So far, it seems there is no way to do multiple pitches like that in one roof by footprint. You have to do at least 2 separate roofs using the cutoff level function or just drawing separate roofs. I have some varying widths along the building, so the roof by extrusion didn't seem like it would help. Also, I have multiple dormers coming off the sides, which don't seem to work framing into roofs by extrusions. However, with the 2 separate roofs by footprint, I can't just use the slope arrrows on the boundaries to make my 12:12 dormers and have them go all the way up because they can't cross roof boundaries. So I have to do 2 "stacked" dormers, 1 on the lower roof, and 1 on the upper roof. But then I end up going around in circles trying to get the various roofs to match up. Meanwhile, a week into this, and I haven't gotten much done on the rest of the structure yet. Revit Roofmasters, am I going about this the right way??? Is there a better way? Revit seems to have some intelligence built into it for modeling roofs, but this seems to be just the right combination of stuff to negate all that and require very tedious manual manipulation unless I'm missing something here.



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Wed, Sep 14, 2011 at 12:12:16 PM | Dormers on complex roofs

#2

mbsteve


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I think you are on the right track, I don't know of any other ways to do it. Cutting the roofs together is the tough part. Hopefully there is some repetition. So you can copy them from side to side etc.


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Wed, Sep 14, 2011 at 1:55:43 PM | Dormers on complex roofs

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itsmyalterego


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The more complex a roof gets, the more I advocate building it without slope lines, and using control points/lines. This will allow you to keep it a single object, yet have easily controlled variable slopes... pic related.

 

Also, if roof heights at points is what you're looking for first and foremost, this is definitely the way to go, since the roof is defined by elevation points, not by slope. 



Edited on: Wed, Sep 14, 2011 at 2:01:31 PM

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Wed, Sep 14, 2011 at 2:27:30 PM | Dormers on complex roofs

#4

mccoolj


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That looks pretty good. I had tried that early on, but it was my first time trying to use that function, and I didn't have all the elevations yet, just the slopes from the architect, so it was frustrating and I went back to the slope arrows that I had had success with on simpler roofs. I think you're right about about the slope arrows not working so well on more complex stuff. That would be really nice to be able to have it as a single roof instead of the 6 or 8 separate ones I'm up to now. I'll give that a try. Thanks!


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Wed, Sep 14, 2011 at 4:25:33 PM | Dormers on complex roofs

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itsmyalterego


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furthermore, a little trick you can use if slope still does matter for you:  Build a few detached, temporary roofs at the correct slope, move them into the correct position.  Then, on your roof with the control points, drag the ridge line and elevation points to snap to the surface of the correctly sloped roof planes.  Then delete or hide the guide roofs.

 



Edited on: Wed, Sep 14, 2011 at 4:35:14 PM

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Mon, Sep 19, 2011 at 4:26:55 PM | Dormers on complex roofs

#6

mccoolj


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I like that tip about the detached roofs as guides. Can you actually snap to the guide roofs, or do you just zoom in close and line them up manually? It seems like the grips on the roof with shapes editing don't want to snap to anything useful. I tried snapping them to a guide roof and to model and detail lines drawn at the particular offset I needed, and they won't "see" anything there, so I have to just eyeball it. Am I missing something? Also, it doesn't seem to want to delete split lines very consistently when I added a few in the wrong spots. Not sure how to address that other than doing it right the first time. Otherwise, the shapes editing approach is definitely working out better than any of the other ways I'd tried before. Thanks!


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Mon, Sep 19, 2011 at 5:13:57 PM | Dormers on complex roofs

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itsmyalterego


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I'd suggest doing it in a 3D view, and switching to wireframe or using a section box to cut the model where you need. 

 

You can snap the control point to a *line* but not a plane or face, in 3D.  Odd distinction, but in a wireframe view all planes will be represented with lines, so, there you go. 

 

Also, as another possible time-saver... You can orient a 3D view to be perfectly perpendicular to any arbitrary plane.  There are a wide variety of uses for this, but the way to get there is a little bit awkward.  Pic related. 

 

Lastly, you can ctrl-C/ctrl-V the values from the control points one you get one properly placed, if you know there are going to be more at the same height.  Just saves some time.



Edited on: Mon, Sep 19, 2011 at 5:16:52 PM

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Tue, Sep 20, 2011 at 11:11:37 AM | Dormers on complex roofs

#8

mccoolj


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Awesome! Thanks. I have been trying to get good true perpendicular cross-sectional views of some of the framing to make sure Revit was placing it like I thought it was, and had been having a hard time getting the 3D view rotated just right, and the sections could only be rotated in plan view but not vertically to look up a valley beam. Now I can click on the end of the beam and align the view perfectly. Very helpful.

One problem I noticed using the roof with the shapes editing is that it makes my 1 1/2" thick roof be 1 1/2" thick vertically rather than 1 1/2" perpendicular to the roof plane. I could adjust the thickness of the roof to compensate for the pitch, but with different pitches, the amount of compensation would be different at each pitch. Also, it appears that you can't use the shapes editing to get a roof portion as pictured below where 1 roof plane continues down below the other at the same gridline. Not too big a deal since I can use a separate roof element for that section like I did here, but then it uses the roof thickness perpendicular to the plane, so my ridge where the 2 roofs meet has a discontinuity. I guess there isn't 1 single solution for complex roofs.

Thanks again for the repeated help. This has been a booger of a project for me, and I'd probably be bald from pulling out all my hair by now without your help Smile



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