Creating a Helix in Revit Using Stairs

Revit doesn't have a helix tool. Why not? For many years now, I have seen a number of different ways to create a helix or spiral in Revit. Zach Kron at Buildz posted back in 2010 using families. HyunnWoo Kim posted in 2013 using adaptive components. I even posted about it myself in 2014 with a very basic method here.

The problem with all of these methods is I don't find them to be very straightforward. The other day I saw a question posted on the forums about how to create a helix and it got me thinking again if there was a better way to do this. (Dynamo was the obvious choice, but we'll come back to that).

So I asked myself, is there any other tool or object in Revit that creates a spiral or helix form? That's when spiral stairs popped into my head! So I opened up Revit and started to play, and this is what I came up with.

Dynamo is also another way you could go about creating a helix & spiral forms in Revit. HyunnWoo Kim posted again in 2015 and created a great video demonstrating the method.

Upgrading to Revit 2017 - Text Issues in Detail

Last month I posted about my personal experience trialing a model upgrade to Revit 2017, to see what effect the latest text updates by Autodesk will have.

I came across a blog post this morning by Ben Bishoff at Ideate Software who has gone into more detail & comparison of these text updates. I thought it was a good article because it gave me a clearer picture of what exactly is happening to the text and how it is moving. (I also happen to use the calibri font used in his example). You can find the post HERE. 

*Insert Sad Face*

RTC Australia started yesterday and I am not there <insert sad face>. It is at the beautiful Hunter Valley in New South Whales. To make it worse, a friend of mine is there, and he keep's sending me cool stuff!! 

So to make up for this massive educational loss, I decided to go through some of the downloaded material from last year's event that I still haven't looked at. Material from sessions I didn't get to see because I was in another. It reminded me of the information overload you get at this event. Some of the material & feedback you won't get anywhere else either. Some bits of presentations though are kindly shared by the authors, like this one about sorting your parameters. I saw the full presentation of this in 2015 and it was information I am now using everyday in my training, family & template setup. 

If you haven't been before, start that draft email to management because it is certainly worth every penny. You can visit the RTC website for future events around the world in 2016. Venues aren't too shabby either! When was the last time you were at a conference surrounded by a golf course AND with a view like this... 

RTC Aus 2016 - Crowne Plaza, Hunter Valley, N.S.W
Image Courtesy of Mr Perez! 

V-Ray For Revit

In my new year post, I spoke about my interest in the beta version of V-Ray for Revit, released by Chaos Group late last year. I still haven't quite gotten to looking at in depth yet, however a case study recently shared by Sam Davis was published by Jeff Pinheiro at TheRevit Kid.com. 

Sam discusses his experience testing the beta version of V-Ray for Revit. I think he did a great job looking into detail of some of the pro's & con's, as well as some great rendering demonstrations of lighting & shadows.  

So thank you to Sam Davis for this case study. You can find it here at the therevitkid.com!