Topo

Make Hardscape Follow Topo Update

landarchBIM 2 Comments

A little less than a year ago, I posted about how you can Make Hardscape Follow Topo with a very simple Dynamo definition. The main downside to this workflow is that it requires a corresponding Subregion with the same footprint as the Floor. Because it uses a Subregion to generate points, you also cannot control the amount of points that go into the Floor. But with a slightly more complicated definition, you can create the same result without a Subregion and even control how many points will modify the Floor.

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Create a Water Solid with Spring Nodes

landarchBIM 5 Comments

Revit does not have any built-in tools for modeling water, though I have previously shown how you can Model Water with Topo. But this method is more of a workaround and it does not work particularly well in section.

Now with Dynamo geometry tools and a couple of nodes from Spring Nodes, you can create a solid water element that perfectly follows your Topography.

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How to Make (Non-Adaptive) Fences Follow Topo

landarchBIM 3 Comments

One of the very first Dynamo blog posts I read demonstrated how to place an adaptive fence component so that it would follow Topo. At the time, I thought it was an interesting concept, but not overly useful since I typically use non-adaptive fence components and fences will frequently step (instead of slope) with grade change.

However, not all fences are stepped, and I recently decided to take a look at trying the same concept on a non-adaptive fence. It is quite a bit more complicated than the adaptive version, but there are several reasons why you might not use an adaptive fence component and the concept can also be used to place a stepped fence.

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Extract Topo Points and Contour Lines

landarchBIM 1 Comment

Topography in Revit can be tricky to manage for a number of reasons, but I would say the most limiting factor is that you can only input points (meaning, you cannot input contour lines or a mesh). If you do use a mesh or 3D lines to create a Topo, Revit simply takes the points from those elements and gives you no control in the generated mesh and contours.

This can be fairly frustrating, particularly if you are accustomed to Civil 3D, where you have control over these elements. Unfortunately, this is an issue that is hard-coded into Revit Topos, so until Autodesk decides to fix the Revit surface engine there isn’t much you can do (besides use other elements, which can be a partial solution).

Once the Topo is generated, you can extract the contour lines and underlying mesh elements by exporting a 3D view to dwg. And with Dynamo, you can extract all three Topo elements (points, contour lines, and mesh) entirely within Revit.

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