January 1 Revit Modeling Guideline 1
Table of Contents Complex foundation elements... 3 Steel elements and reference lines... 4 Architectural walls... 5 Basic walls with complex geometry... 5 Slanted walls... 6 Curtain walls with basic curtain panels... 6 Wall sweeps (and fascia, gutters)... 9 Monolithic stairs... 10 Structural Trusses... 12 Caseworks... 13 Revit rooms... 13 Complex structural ramps... 15 Sloped steel bracing... 17 See Calculation rules in Vico Office Help:... 18 2
The goal of this document is to provide guidelines for creating 3D construction models, which allow users to fully utilize the capabilities of Vico Office. The document is NOT a Revit user guide and it shares best practices for developing construction caliber quantities with a 3D model or with modifying data in Vico Office. Complex foundation elements Using complex families can result in false quantities in Vico Office. For example, if you have piles and pile caps in one family type, they would be published as a slab TOI and the pile quantities would be added to the pile cap quantities. The only reliable quantity will be the.net Volume. Surfaces and perimeter values contain the pile and the pile cap quantities; hence, these values cannot be used for proper estimation. For example, the bottom surface for grade work and the side surface for erect formwork do not show the correct values. Similarly, the height of the piles cannot be calculated from these complex families. Tips: Model each part of the foundation element separately. Use structural column family (rectangular or round) for the piles, and structural foundation or floor families for the pile cap to get the correct values. 3
Steel elements and reference lines Vico Office is using the reference line of the elements to calculate length. Engineers might use the Extension option in Revit to create the full length of the element (to reach surrounding elements). This extension option will give you the Cut length (highlighted with green below) but Vico Office uses the Length (highlighted with pink), which is defined by the reference line. In the screenshot below, you can see that the Length is 6 even though 10 was set as a Cut Length in Revit. 4
Tips: Model the steel s reference line along the longest distance that is required between other structural elements. If it causes clashes, pull back the end extension of the beam but not the reference line. Architectural walls Basic walls with complex geometry If the basic wall contains reveals in the modeling application quantities (for example, net side surface areas), it might not be calculated properly in Vico Office. Top and bottom surface areas contain the top and bottom surfaces of the reveals as well. Tips: Either delete the reveals in type properties in Revit and use solid walls, or use the painting tool in Takeoff Manager. 5
Slanted walls Using the model by face function in Revit allows you to use mass elements and pick its surface for a basic wall. This basic wall will not have a reference line. Since reference lines are used to calculate quantities in Vico Office, this will result in missing values. Tips: Surface quantities can be fixed by using the painting tool in Takeoff Manager, but this fix will not give you the Length value. Curtain walls with basic curtain panels Before you model curtain walls, the required quantities must be clear. You can t use the Curtain wall tool in Revit if the length and the side surface area are required. No TOI and TOQ will be generated from the curtain wall s components (mullions and curtain panels). Tips: Curtain wall tool with mullions and curtain panels: The side surface area (contains the surface of the mullion as well) and the Length of the curtain wall can be calculated if locations are NOT used in LBS. Top surface area will contain the top surface of the mullions as well (see screenshot below). 6
Curtain wall tool with mullions and basic walls as curtain panels: The curtain panels can be replaced with basic walls in Revit. In this case, two Takeoff Items will be generated: one for the curtain wall and one for the walls that are replacing the curtain panels. The remaining part (in this case the mullions) is recognized as the curtain wall. Its side surface area can be used for mullions. This way of modeling gives you the proper count and surface of the panels. 7
Curtain walls with complex custom curtain panels: The issue is similar to the one mentioned above. The curtain panels are visible but no TOI is generated from them. Only TOI is the curtain wall that they have been put into. Top surface areas calculated from all horizontal top polygons includes the sunshades surfaces. Most of the quantities are not reliable. 8
Tips: It is recommended to model the curtain panel from basic walls, and then create a group of them. After that, the model groups can be copied as requested. It s enough to edit one group changes will be applied to all groups. On the screenshots below you can see an example. There are two model groups, a bottom and a top panel. Each model group contains the following: basic walls (one layer for framing and another for cover); windows; beams and columns for sunshades. Wall sweeps (and fascia, gutters) The wall sweeps are handled as one piece in Revit. Hence, Vico Office cannot calculate the quantities separately from them. The same problem occurs if a fascia tool or gutter element is used at roofs. 9
Tips: It s recommended to model these elements separately with, for example, a basic rectangular beam tool or with Revit schedule. Monolithic stairs Using the stair tool in Revit, you can create stairs throughout several floors including the landing. The following quantities can be calculated by the software: Count: The number of stairs created Height: The vertical distance from the bottom of the stair to the top of the stair Tread Surface Area: Includes all horizontal top surface area. This quantity can be used for finishing.. Side Surface Area: Includes all vertical surfaces and the bottom surfaces of the stair. This quantity can be used for form work. Net Volume: This quantity can be used for concrete casting 10
In case separate quantities are required for the landing, it should be modeled separately with the floor tool and the staircases with the stair tool in Revit. This might be required in case of precast elements. 11
Structural Trusses Trusses are recognized as beams in Vico Office and most of the quantities cannot be calculated. The count and length values are calculated properly. TOI will be generated for steel shapes that have been set for chords and webs. On the screenshot they are HSS beams. The surface values are calculated directly from those steel elements. 12
Caseworks Caseworks are recognized by Vico Office as objects. The only quantity that is calculated is the Count. Using this element type in Revit won t allow detailed estimation for millwork. To get more details about the caseworks, it s recommended to model these with basic wall and floor tool and create model groups for each casework type. Revit rooms Rooms can be published into Vico Office by checking the Publish Rooms check box. Only those rooms will go through, which are in a closed region. Rooms that are not in an enclosed region won t appear in Vico Office. Takeoff item will be generated for rooms by selecting the Family Type criteria. The TOI name will contain the room number and name as well. While each room has a unique number, the rooms cannot be grouped. Tips: Group rooms together by removing unique room numbers. To highlight the rooms on the floor plan view, go to tab: View Visibility/Graphics. Under the Model Categories, expand the room and check Color Fill, Interior Fill and Reference. 13
Before you publish the rooms create a room schedule. Go to: View Schedule Schedule/Quantities. Sort the room list by Name and uncheck Itemize every instance check box. Remove the value from each cell from room number. It s recommended to save a Copy of the central file (if you are working with a full version of revit) to make sure that the original room information remain in the project. 14
The element type can be changed from Room to Slab. Slabs Edge Surface Area can be used directly for wall finishing cost line items. If you leave it as Room, you can use the following formula in Cost Plan: Room.Floor Surface Area * Room.Heigth. To publish only the rooms into Vico Office, you can hide all model categories in a 3D view. To do so, go to Visibility/Graphics setting window, select all Model Categories, and then uncheck all boxes. Note: The revit links must be removed from the project before publishing. Complex structural ramps At ramps, basic sloped slabs can be divided without any issue. However, when the geometry is too complex, it is recommended to use mass elements. This way Vico Office will calculate the right quantities. 15
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Sloped steel bracing If the slope of the beam is lower than 45, the quantities will be calculated as shown below: Top surface area and bottom surface area. If the slope is higher than (or equal to) 45, the higher ends surface area will be recognized as top surface area and the lower one will be the bottom surface area. End surface area will turn into a top surface area. Tips: This issue can be fixed in Takeoff Manager by painting the correct surfaces. It can also be fixed in Cost Planner. If a cost line item requires the surfaces (i.e., fireproofing), you can change the formula to: Length* The perimeter of the steels cross section 17
It s NOT recommended to change the element type from beam to column in Vico Office because it leads to false length (height) quantity. The picture to the left shows the correct length quantity that will appear in VO in case of beam element type. If this element is set to column, the height will be 15 6 3/8 instead of 18 0 length. See Calculation rules in Vico Office Help: The direction of the face is then compared to the project s normal vector, which is a vector that points exactly in the z direction. Based on this comparison, an angle variance with the normal vector can be determined, which then lets Vico Office classify the face. 1. If the direction of a face is in the 315 to 45 range, the face is classified as Top. 2. If the direction of a face is in either 45 to 135 or 225 to 315 range, the face is classified as Side. 3. If the direction of a face is in the 135 to 225 range, the face is classified as Bottom. 18