The Point For Coordination
The Point for Coordination
Luis Rojas – Building Design Product Line Manager, Eagle Point Software
AB5623-VIn this class, we will explain the Autodesk® Revit® coordinate system and how to establish the survey point to coordinate the site and the building models between architects, engineers, and contractors. We will discuss various methods for creating Revit toposurfaces including linked DWG™ files and the use of LandXML format files to coordinate with models created in Autodesk® Civil 3D®. In addition, we will present Revit topography tools as well as enhanced workflows using the Eagle Point® Siteworks™ for Revit® add-on to develop the site concept.
Learning Objectives
At the end of this class, you will be able to:
- Correctly set the project Survey Point and Project Base Point for model coordination.
- Create Revit toposurfaces from point files, drawing (DWG) files, landXML files, and contouring.
- Use the toposurfaces tools in Revit and Siteworks for Revit to develop the site concept.
- Create earthwork cut/fill schedules and other reports.
About the Speaker
Luis is currently the building design product line manager at Eagle Point Software. In this role, Luis is responsible for product research, software development, product marketing, service delivery, and technical sales into the architecture and construction market segments for Eagle Point. Luis leads the Eagle Point team in the design, development, and release of Autodesk® Revit® and AutoCAD® add-ons such as Siteworks for Revit and LANDCADD for Revit. Luis has worked in the AEC industry for 19 years and has helped hundreds of clients around the world implement technology solutions in their business through project consulting, product design, training, and support. Luis has also presented at numerous conferences worldwide and is a published author in trade magazines.
Setting the Survey Point
Review Civil 3D Project
Check Drawing Settings
In this step you will open and check the drawing settings for the project in Civil 3D.
1. Open Autodesk Civil 3D 2013.
2. Open project.
3. Confirm drawing units.
·Check if the drawing is set to decimal (1.0 ft/m) or architecture (1' - 0" ft) units.
·Check if Insertion Scale has been set. This will help verify later if the drawing has been linked correctly in the Revit project.
4. Measure a distance on any object that has been dimensioned to confirm that the project hasn't been scaled.
·If it has, you can decide to leave this way and then apply a scale factor while linking the drawing in Revit to compensate for this.
Find the Survey Control Point
In this step you will find the survey control point or other survey point that can be used to establish a shared coordinate system for the Revit project. This is something that you may want to work together or consult with the civil engineer to define.
1. Open the Layer Properties Manager and turn on or thaw the survey layers that may contain the point data.
2. Zoom and Pan in the drawing until you can select and read the coordinates (East, North) and elevation for the point.
3. Write down these values.
Export Surface from Autodesk Civil 3D
In this step you will export the model from Autodesk Civil 3D.
1. Open Autodesk Civil 3D and open the project.
2. Export LandXML
- Make sure there is a check mark by all the Surfaces you want to export.
- Click OK.
- On the File Section box, browse to the Revit project folder and name the file "Site Surface.XML".
- Click OK.
3. Close Civil 3D
- You don't need to save the Civil 3D model.
Create Site Model in Revit
Prepare Site Plan View
Verify and adjust the Site plan view settings so you can readily view the CAD objects. You will need to have a new Revit model started. If you are following this class, try using the default Architecture template.
1. Using the Project Browser, select and open the Site floor plan view.
2. In the View Properties box, Graphics rollout, set Orientation to True North.
3. Still in the View Properties box, in the Extents rollout, View Range field, click on Edit.
4. In the View Range dialog box, change the Cut plane Offset value so it is higher than the highest point of your site. For example, use an elevation of 5000'.
5. Click OK.
Position the Revit Survey Point
In this step you will position the Revit's Survey Point in order to coordinate the site for all team members.
1. In the Site plan view, select the Project Base Point (circle icon) and, while selected, unclip it.
2. Select the Survey Point (triangle icon) and unclip it too.
·If the Project Base Point and the Survey Point are located in the same position, you may need to cycle through the selection using the TAB key.
·Do not enter the coordinate and elevation values into the Survey Point properties field.
3. Specify Coordinates for the Survey Point.
·Hoover the cursor over the Survey Point and then click. If the both the Project Base Point and Survey Point are in the same position, you may need to cycle through selection.
4. In the Specify Shared Coordinates dialog box input the East/West, North/South, and Elevation values that you wrote down from the DWG survey control point in an earlier step.
5. Click OK.
·Nothing should move in the screen and if you select the Survey Point again, you see how it note that is shared site and display the coordinates you entered.
Creating a Toposurface
Import LandXML File in Revit through Siteworks for Revit
In this step you will import the file into the Autodesk Revit model in order to create the toposurface.
1. Open the model in Autodesk Revit 2013.
2. Open the Site Plan view.
- Double-click on Site Plan under the Views listing in the Project Browser.
3. Import LandXML using Siteworks for Revit.
- Click on the File Selection button and browse to the Revit project folder.
- Select the "*.XML" file created in the previous step.
- Toggle Import toposurfaces found in LandXML file.
- Select By Survey Point from the Positioning list.
- Click OK.
- Select the surface from the listing and click OK.
- Toggle Add as a New Toposurface, keep the Name and select Existing from the Phase Created list.
- Click OK.
4. Save the project.
Link Drawing File for Additional References
In this step you will link the Autodesk Civil 3D drawing model (DWG) so it can be used for additional references and line work creation in Autodesk Revit.
1. Open the Site Plan view.
- Double-click on Site Plan under the Views listing in the Project Browser.
2. Link CAD file with existing grade information
- Browse to CAD file location
- Single-click select file
- Set Colors to Preserve
- Set Layers to All
- Set Import Units to Auto-Detect
- Set Positioning to By Shared Coordinates
- Place at Level 1
- Click Open
Working with Toposurfaces
Create Additional Line Work
Use Autodesk Revit’s line tool with the Pick Lines option to create Revit detail or model lines in the view for additional site features. In our class project, we used this tool to grab some of the lines for the north and south building areas from the existing site and we then traced and adjusted according to our design target.
Mass Grading Using Siteworks for Revit
In this step, we used Siteworks for Revit to mass grade the areas that we needed to work with.
1. Locate Soft Terrain
2. Select the Soft Terrain Family from the pull-down.
3. Select Soft Terrain Type from pull-down.
4. Provide Soft Terrain Name (must be unique)
5. Assign the constant elevation by entering the target elevation on the Elevation field.
6. Choose chain option.
8. Click Insert.
9. Use the line work created using the Pick Lines command.
10. Select or create linework:
11. Click Close to exit Locate Soft Terrain dialog
12. Save the project
Mass Grading Using Siteworks for Revit
In this step, as show in the class, some additional work was done to assign some of the grades to the parking lot and north building area.
1. Modify Soft Terrain to modify the mass grade area
- Graphically select the host line associated to the feature you want to modify.
2. Click on Change Elevation.
3. Select the grade marker and the direction arrow to indicate that you want to edit a grade and the direction you will be grading in.
4. Input the new grade value for the segment.
5. Apply to commit the changes.
Add Roads to the Autodesk Revit Model
In this step, after working some more on the initial grading of the project areas, the main and secondary roads were added to the project using Siteworks for Revit.
1. Locate Street
2. Select the Street Family from the pull-down.
3. Select Street Type from pull-down.
4. Provide Street Name.
5. Elevation was set to Relative Elevation from Toposurface with a value of 0 so the road follows the toposurface exactly. The road grade was not being affected for this project.
6. Choose Chain option,
8. Select Existing linework.
9. Click Insert.
10. Select the road centerlines brought through the LandXML import earlier.
11. If prompted, select Show Mass in all existing Views in order to view the street mass, then click OK.
13. When finished placing Streets, click Close in the Locate Street dialog and Save the project.
When the second road was placed, Siteworks automatically resolved the intersection. Also, some more work was done using the Curb tool found in Siteworks as can be seen in the video.
Adding More Components tothe Site
Placing Plants
In this step, several tools found in Landcadd for Revit were used to add the trees, fence, parking lot stripping, and lighting on the site model.
1. Open Locate Plants from the Landcadd for Revit tab.
2. Select a Plant Family
3. Select a Plant Name (type)
4. Select the placement options. The default values are read from the plant type information in the family.
5. Select Hedge Row and then Center for placement method.
6. Select the Proposed Toposurface from the list to host the plants (this assigns elevations).
7. Select Chain.
8. Click Insert
9. Select the line in Revit that you want to follow.
Placing Parking Lot Stripes
In this step, several tools found in Landcadd for Revit were used to add the trees, fence, parking lot stripping, and lighting on the site model.
1. Open Parking Stripes from the Landcadd for Revit tab.
2. Select a regular parking stall family and choose the if a single row or double row parking area will be created.
3. Toggle on to add disabled parking stalls and choose both the type settings for the stalls and the number.
4. Toggle on if you want to place bumpers.
5. Toggle on if you want to place an empty space or an island. Note that the Curb tool in Siteworks for Revit was used to create the islands in this project not LANDCADD’s because Landcadd creates a flat/horizontal island while the other creates 3D curbs.
6. Select the Parking Lotfrom the list of toposurface to host the stalls (this assigns elevations).
7. Select Chain.
8. Click Insert
9. Select the line in Revit that you want to follow and follow the remaining prompts.
The Locate Components and Locate Fence were also used but the mechanics of the commands are very similar to what has been described above.
Views, Schedules, and Exports
Create Section View
1. In the Project Browser, open a Site Floor Plan view.
2. Create Section View.
·Set section view type to Building Section
·Draw section line through site
·Adjust section view depth by dragging the blue controls, if desired.
3. Right-click on the section line and select Go to View
4. Adjust View Properties:
·Rename Section view to something related to the area while keeping the name short, e.g.: "BldgSect_Long"
·Change Title on Sheet to appropriate name, such as "Longitudinal Building Section"
·Apply changes
5. In View Properties:
·Set Phase Filter to "Show New".
·Use Visibility/Graphics Overrides to turn on/off categories of Revit objects as per company standards.
·Set Phase to "New Construction".
·Apply Changes
6. Create View Template from Current View
·Create Appropriate name for View Template, e.g.: "OurCompany_Building Section"
·Review settings and click OK
7. In the View Properties, click on the View Template button to Assign the "OurCompany_Building Section" view template to the view.
·Note: Assigning a view template to a view will create a permanent relationship to the view template properties and the view. Any changes made to the view template will automatically be made to any views that have that particular view template assigned.
8. Save the project.
Create Schedule View
The steps to create the schedules illustrated in the video are the same, what varied was the category that was used. For the class, topography, parking, and plants were used. The following steps describe the planting schedule creation.
1. Launch Schedule/Quantities command
·Select Planting Category
·Leave Phase as "New Construction"
·Click OK
2. In Schedule Properties dialog Fields tab select following fields:
·Plant Scientific Name, Plant Common Name, Plant Code Name.
·Click on Add
3. Click on Sorting/Grouping tab
·Sort by Family and Type
·Turn off Itemize every instance option
4. Click on Formatting tab
·On the Count field, turn on Calculate totals
5. Click OK
6. Save the project.
Exports
During class, the Autodesk Revit site model was exported via LandXML using the Siteworks for Revit Export LandXML file command. The Autodesk Navisworks simulation was done by appending the Revit model directly to a Navisworks scene.
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