Graphics Programs Reference
In-Depth Information
Figure 8.56
cutting the void
Overall, creating solid masses intuitively is a great way to establish, analyze, and visualize
your overall design idea. As you saw previously in the chapter, mass floors allow you to even
quantify gross floor areas before you've committed to geometry.
Furthermore, it's possible to put different intuitive massing ideas inside different design
options (covered in Chapter 10, “Working with Phasing, Groups, and Design Options”) so that
many ideas can live in a single Revit project file. Simply initiate worksharing and create worksets
for each study mass. Multiple team members will be able to see one another's work at the same
time and in context with their design ideas. This is the holistic kind of team approach to design
information that makes massing a unique and valuable design tool. If you'd like to investigate
this file further, you can download the file c08-Massing-2-Finished.rvt from the Chapter 8
folder of the topic's companion website.
Next, we'll investigate parametric and formulaic solid mass creation in the Family Editor.
Creating Formula-driven Massing
Formula-driven massing can be done in the project environment, but the challenge is that you
have to work in the context of the project, and all the parameters, formulas, reference planes,
and lines can start to get in the way. Therefore, having the option of creating form-driven
masses in the Family Editor without the clutter of the project environment can help you focus
on what you're trying to accomplish.
In this section of the chapter, we will show you two different methods for creating
formula-driven massing. First, you will create a generic model family and then load it into the
project environment as part of an in-place mass. Second, you will create a conceptual mass
family to observe the differences in modeling tools and how they will affect your design
explorations.
