By John Flanagan
Introduction
The Conceptual Massing Environment provides flexibility early in the design process to express ideas and create parametric massing families that can be integrated into building information modelling (BIM). Use this environment to directly manipulate a design’s points, edges, and surfaces into buildable forms or parametric components.
How to Create Forms using a Separate Massing Family
- In the Application Menu, expand New and select Conceptual Mass. Or from the Start Up screen, select New Conceptual Mass.
- In the New Conceptual Mass – Template File dialogue box, in the Conceptual Mass folder, select the Mass template and click open.
- In the Create tab>Draw panel, use the drawing tools to draw the profiles and path as needed.
- Select the sketched linework.
- Click Create Form. Revit creates a 3D mass based on the selected linework.
- Create more forms as needed.
- Click Save to save the new mass to the Library.
- In the Family Editor panel, click Load Group to load the new mass into an open project.
The Conceptual Mass Family Template
- The Conceptual Mass family template contains one level and two reference planes.
- As you are creating a Conceptual Mass family, you can use reference planes/lines, dimensions, and Family Types to create parametric options.
Conclusion
The designs created in the Conceptual Massing Environment are massing families that can be used in the Revit project environment as the basis from which you create more detailed architecture by applying walls, roofs, floors, and curtain systems. You can also use the project environment to schedule floor areas, and to conduct preliminary spatial analysis.