DEMO VERSION - CHAPTER #10- CURTAIN WALLS

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 TABLE OF CONTENT
PART 1: MODEL

1. BASIC INTERFACE
1.1. The Ribbon 12
1.2 Status, View And Options Bars 14
1.3 Project Browser And Properties 15
1.4 11 Beginner Tips To Understand Revit Interface 16
1.5 Family, Type And Instance 19

2. WALLS
2.1. Create a Basic Wall 22
2.2. Adjust Walls 25
2.3. Create Sweeps and Reveals 26
2.4. Basic Walls FAQ 27
2.5 Compound Walls 28
2.6 Modify Wall Structure 29
2.7 5 Advanced Wall Tips 32

3. MODIFY
3.1. Adjusting Existing Elements 35

4. LEVELS AND GRID

4.1. Create Levels 42
4.2 Create Grids 43
4.3 5 Basic Tips for Levels and Grids 44

5. FLOORS
5.1. Create a Floor 46
5.2. 4 Floor Tips 48
 6. CEILINGS
6.1. Create A Ceiling 50
6.2. Modify Ceiling Tiles Grids 52

7. ROOF
7.1. Create A Roof 53
7.2. 10 Basic Roof Tips 54
7.3. 5 Advanced Roof Tips 60

8. DOORS
8.1. Create A Door 63

9. WINDOWS
9.1. Create A Window 64

10. CURTAIN WALLS

10.1. What Are Curtain Walls? 66
10.2. Create A Curtain Wall 67
10.3. Fill An Empty Curtain Wall 68
10.4. Set An Automatic Curtain Wall 69
10.5. Create Rectangular Mullion Type 71
10.6. 11 Curtain Walls Tips 72
10.7. Case Study: Casino Casework 78
10.8. 2 Advanced Curtain Walls Tips 79

11. STAIRS
11.1. Before Modeling Your First Stair 80
11.2 Create A Basic Stair 82
11.3 9 Essential Stair Tips 84
11.4 3 Advanced Stair Tips 89
 12. RAILINGS
12.1 Create A Railing 91
12.2 3 Railing Creation Tips 92
12.3 The Anatomy Of A Railing 94
12.4 Create A Top Rail / Handrail 97
12.5 Create A Baluster Pattern 102
12.6 6 Tips To Create the Perfect Railing Type 105
12.7 3 Advanced Railing Tips 108

13. SITE
13.1. Create A Topography 110
13.2. Create A Building Pad 112

14. MATERIALS
14.2. Create a Material 112
14.2. Split Face / Paint 114

15. ROOMS
15.1. What Is A Room? 115
15.2. Adjust Room Height 116

PART 2: VIEWS
16. VIEWS
16.1. How To Create New Views 118
16.2 5 Settings To Adjust In Each View 119
16.3 Setting Far Clip 122

17. PLAN VIEWS

17.1. Create Plan Views 123
17.2. How View Range Works 124
 18. SECTIONS
18.1. Create A Section 125

19. ELEVATIONS
19.1. Create An Elevation 127

20. CALLOUTS
20.1. Create A Callout 128

21. DETAILS
21.1. Create Detailing - Hybrid Technique 129
21.2. 8 Tips For Efficient Detailing 130

22. 3D VIEWS
22.1. Create 3D Views 134
22.2. Create a Perspective 135

23. LEGENDS
23.1. What Are Legends Used For? 136

24. VIEW TEMPLATES

24.1 Creating a View Template 137
24.1 Assign Template To All New Views 139

25. VISIBILITY
25.1. Hide Elements 140
25.2 Visibility Graphics 141
25.3 Temporary Hide/Isolate Elements 142
PART 3: ANNOTATE

26. LINES
26.1. Detail Lines vs Model Lines 144
26.2 Create A Line Style 145

27. TAGS
27.1. What Is A Tag? 146
27.2 Room Tag / Material Tag 147
27.3 4 Basic Tags Tips 148

28. TEXT
28.1. Place Text And Adjust Leaders 150

29. REGIONS
29.1. What Is A Region? 151
29.2 Edit Region Type 152
29.3 Hide Things With Masking Region 153
29.4 Create A Pattern 154

30. DIMENSIONS
30.1. Create A Dimension 155

PART 4: PUBLISH AND COLLABORATE

31. SHEETS
31.1 Create A Sheet 159
31.2 View References Are Automatic 162
31.3 3 Tips To Navigate Sheet 163
31.4 Advanced Tip: Modify A Title Block 165
 32. REVISIONS
32.1 Create A New Revision 166
32.2 Create A Revision Cloud 167

33. PRINT
32.1 Print Your View Or Sheet 168

34. CENTRAL FILES

34.1 Central File vs Local File 170
34.2 Synchronize 171
34.3 Collaborate 172

35. LINK CAD

35.1 Preparing CAD Files 173
35.2 Use These Link Cad Settings 174
35.3 4 Linked Cad Tips 175

36. EXPORT CAD

36.1 How To Export To CAD 177

PART 5: ADVANCED TOOLS

37. SCHEDULES
37.1 What Are Schedules Used for? 179
37.2 Create A Basic Schedule 181
37.3 19 Tips To Become A Schedule Master 182
 38. PHASES
38.1 Create Phases 193
38.2 How To Demolish 195
38.3 What Is A Phase Filter? 196
38.4 What Are Graphic Overrides? 196
38.5 What Phase Filter Should You Use? 199

39. WORKSETS
39.1 What Are Worksets? 200
39.2 5 Tips To Use Worksets Properly 202

40. GROUPS
40.1 Create A Group 206
40.2 Quick Group Tips 207

41. MODEL IN-PLACE

41.1 What is Model in-Place 208

42. FAMILIES
42.1 Create A Cabinet Family 210
42.2 Create Annotation Family 216

43. DESIGN OPTIONS

43.1 Create Design Options 218
10.1
CURTAIN WALLS
© Copyright 2017 - BIM Pure Productions - revitpure.com BASICS

WHAT ARE CURTAIN WALLS?

Curtain Walls can do much more than glazed walls. They can be used for
walls with complex patterns, special railings and even casework.

Curtain Walls contains most properties of a basic wall. They have bottom
and top constraints and their profile can be modified. The difference lies
among the following features:

CURTAIN GRIDS
Curtain grids are division created on the walls. These division can be
horizontal or vertical.

MULLIONS
Mullions are elements that can be created on each curtain grid segment,
as well as on each curtain wall extremities.

CURTAIN PANELS
Curtain panels are rectangular elements located between each curtain
grids.
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CURTAIN WALLS
© Copyright 2017 - BIM Pure Productions - revitpure.com BASICS

CREATE A CURTAIN WALL

SELECT A TYPE

Curtain Walls are created in the same way as regular walls. Select the wall
tool in the architecture tab. The difference is that when selecting a type,
you have to scroll down to select a wall in the Curtain Wall category. These
walls have a glass icon next to them.

Like with regular walls, set base and top constraints. Then draw the wall.

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CURTAIN WALLS
© Copyright 2017 - BIM Pure Productions - revitpure.com BASICS

FILL AN EMPTY CURTAIN WALL

Use an empty curtain wall type that doesn’t use any automatic constraints
or automatic mullions. Create a new wall and set all constraints. It will look
like a plain glass wall. Let’s fill it up.

ADD CURTAIN GRIDS

Select the curtain grid tool in architecture tab. Place your

cursor on the edge of the curtain wall or with another curtain
grid intersection. Then click to add the curtain grid. Adjust
dimensions.
ADD MULLIONS

Select the mullion tool, then click on a curtain grid or on the

edge of the wall to add them. By default they are created on the
complete length of a curtain grid.

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CURTAIN WALLS
© Copyright 2017 - BIM Pure Productions - revitpure.com BASICS

SET AN AUTOMATIC CURTAIN WALL

Most of the time you want to use an automatic curtain wall, with fixed
dimensions, specific glass and mullions types. These walls can be set to
mimic specs from manufacturers. Let’s build one from scratch.

SET GRIDS DIMENSIONS

Select curtain wall and click . Set layouts and spacing for
vertical and horizontal grids. Use Maximum Spacing layout to equally
divide your curtain wall. Use Fixed Distance to set a specified distance
between grids, except for the filler at beginning or end.

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CURTAIN WALLS
© Copyright 2017 - BIM Pure Productions - revitpure.com BASICS
ADD MULLIONS

In the type properties, scroll to Vertical and Horizontal Mullions category.

Add a mullion type to each category. Border 1 are left/bottom mullions,
Border 2 are right/top mullions.

EMBED CURTAIN WALL

By default, curtain walls will be embedded in a
regular wall, like a window would. Moving the
hosting wall will also cause the curtain wall to
move (pin curtain wall to avoid this).

To deactivate default embedding, uncheck it in

Curtain Wall type.

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10.5
CURTAIN WALLS
© Copyright 2017 - BIM Pure Productions - revitpure.com BASICS

CREATE RECTANGULAR MULLION TYPE

Select a mullion, click and duplicate to create new type. Make
sure Default profile is selected. Adjust both side of Width. Side 1 is left/
bottom, while Side 2 is right/top. Adjust Thickness and Offset, which is
the distance from the center of the mullion to the center of the wall.

CREATE CURTAIN PANEL TYPE

Default curtain panels have three critical
parameters to set: Thickness, Offset and
Material. Offset is the distance between
the center of the curtain wall and the
center of the panel.

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CURTAIN WALLS
© Copyright 2017 - BIM Pure Productions - revitpure.com BASICS

11 CURTAIN WALLS TIPS

1- PRESS TAB TO CYCLE THROUGH ELEMENTS

Selecting elements in a curtain wall can be tricky, because by default

a click will result in selecting the whole wall. Use tab to cycle through
mullions, curtain panels and curtain grids.

2- RIGHT-CLICK MULLION FOR SELECTION OPTIONS

When you select a mullion, only segment between two curtain grids will be
selected. Right-click to get more selection options like in the image below.

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CURTAIN WALLS
© Copyright 2017 - BIM Pure Productions - revitpure.com BASICS

3- UNPIN ELEMENTS TO MODIFY THEM

By default, you can’t move or

modify elements (mullions,
panels, grids) in automatic curtain
walls since that would break the
rules set in type.

Unpin the elements to make

them independent.

4- MAKE CURTAIN PANEL A WALL OR AN EMPTY PANEL

The power of curtain walls is that you don’t have to only use glazed panels.
In fact, you can use any wall type available in your project. You can also
make the curtain panel empty.

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CURTAIN WALLS
© Copyright 2017 - BIM Pure Productions - revitpure.com BASICS

5- SET WALL PANEL OFFSET

If you replace a curtain panel by a wall, make sure to set the offset in the
instance properties, under Location Line Offset. A negative value for the
offset will push the wall to the interior side.

6- REPLACE CURTAIN PANEL BY A DOOR

Curtain panels can be replaced by a door. These doors are different from
regular doors: their size is dictated by the space between curtain grids.
Make sure to delete the mullion below the door.

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CURTAIN WALLS
© Copyright 2017 - BIM Pure Productions - revitpure.com BASICS

7- ADD/REMOVE CURTAIN GRIDS SEGMENTS

By default, curtain grids fill the entire length of a curtain wall. When
selecting curtain grids, click on Add/Remove Segment, then click on
segments to remove or add them. Mullions will be automatically deleted.

8- SET GRID JUSTIFICATION IN INSTANCE PROPERTIES

When using Fixed Distance for grids layout, set the justification in the
instance properties of the curtain wall.

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CURTAIN WALLS
© Copyright 2017 - BIM Pure Productions - revitpure.com BASICS

9- DON’T MOVE MULLIONS: MOVE THE GRIDS

This can be confusing for beginners: Mullions can’t be moved by

themselves. You have to move the curtain grids to which they are
attached.

10- USE CORNER MULLIONS AT INTERSECTION

By default, regular mullions will be created at the intersection of two

curtain walls. Delete vertical mullions from one of the wall and replace the
other by Corner Mullions. Corner Mullion types include L-Shaped (used in
the image), V-Shaped, Trapezoid, Quad Corner and Circular.

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CURTAIN WALLS
© Copyright 2017 - BIM Pure Productions - revitpure.com BASICS

11- ARRANGE MULLION CONTINUITY

Select a mullion, you will see you the icon on each extremity. Click it to
change continuity on intersecting mullions.

You can also use the tools in the contextual menu,

which will change both extremities of a selected
mullion at once.

This process can also be automated in curtain wall type properties, under
the parameter Join Condition.

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CURTAIN WALLS
© Copyright 2017 - BIM Pure Productions - revitpure.com BASICS

CASE STUDY: CASINO CASWORK

TRIANGLE SHAPED CURTAIN PANELS

Curtain Walls are awesome because their use is not limited to curtain walls.
In the casino project pictured below, we used curtain walls for interior
perforated panels.

To get that result, create a custom curtain panel family with triangle holes
inside an extrusion. Then add an offset of 3mm between the reference
planes and the extrusion to mimic the joint between panels.

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CURTAIN WALLS
© Copyright 2017 - BIM Pure Productions - revitpure.com BASICS

2 ADVANCED CURTAIN WALLS TIPS

1- ADD ANGLE TO ROTATE CURTAIN GRIDS

All curtain grids are parallel to one another. To change the angle, select
curtain wall and set Vertical and Horizontal angles in Instance Properties.

2- CREATE CUSTOM MULLION PROFILES

Create a new mullion profile family for specific shapes, whether it be a

specific manufacturer profile or a weird star-shaped mullion.

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