Exercise 7: Divided Surfaces

This exercise discusses the steps necessary to control the way in which surfaces are subdivided, patterned, and rationalized. The Pattern Based Family loaded into the project will be instantiated on the selected subdivided surfaces. You can control these surfaces with a series of parameters that affect the spacing and number of U and V divisions. This creates different conditions for how the curtain panels will display and perform on the surfaces that we are subdividing per different parts of the project.

For example, one solution may be to drive the amount of glazing in a panel parametrically based on the amount of solar radiation it will receive. The parameters used to drive the number of subdivisions will help enormously to test different panel types, sizes, and orientations.

Begin by opening the 7-0 Divided Surface.rvt project file. We are going to be focused on the tower for this exercise by creating the control surfaces from which a curtain panel family will be hosted.

Under the Analyze tab Design Options, ensure that the correct tower design you wish to focus on is activated. Once that is done, select the tower and click Edit Family, from here we can directly edit the attributed of the tower design. When we are finished, we will load the newly attributed tower family back into the original project environment.

When you are inside the tower family, isolate your selection to the vertical walls by holding the control button to multi-select and the tab button to cycle through selection possibilities. Once you have the vertical walls, click Divide Surface on the ribbon.

The UV grid acts as a guide in patterning the surface. Manipulating the divided surface also manipulates the parametrically dependent patterns and components.

The vertical walls will be divided according to the default U V spacing. Grid settings are located in the Properties dialog when you select the divided face. Changing the U values will affect the horizontal profiles, where the V values control the vertical profiles.

UV lines can be controlled by a fixed Number whereby it will evenly space across the face, or you can choose to control them using a fixed distance, where they will be drawn at every increment which you set.

You can control the rotation of the UV grid lines by specifying the angle in the Properties dialog. U and V angles can be controlled together by changing the All Grid Rotation or individually by changing the Grid Rotation under the corresponding U or V Grid controls.