⚡ Revit Automation – CETEC Custom Add-in

Problem

CETEC Engenharia Estrutural is a Brazillian engineering company specializing in structural design that actively seeks improvements in its workflows and internal processes.

As a company that provides multiple structural design solutions (from reinforced and prestressed concrete elements to masonry walls), the main focus of its engineering team should be on business and structural analysis.

To get the best out of its team, CETEC needed tools to allow the engineering team to focus on what is essential for the business and its clients’ goals.

Challenges and Objectives

During the development phase of a masonry wall solution, CETEC’s team must control a diverse range of data to ensure the project’s viability and quality control.

From collecting preliminary material schedules to providing detailed drawing sheets for each masonry wall, CETEC’s engineering used to model the structural components manually using Autodesk Revit.

Needless to say, many tasks needed to achieve the required outcome were repetitive and time-consuming, which can increase the costs for both the company and the client, as well as being more susceptible to errors along the way.

To mitigate these issues and keep up with the competitive and cutting-edge company culture, CETEC understood the necessity of developing automation tools to optimize and standardize its modeling processes.

Solution

DiRoots developed a custom Revit plugin to automate most masonry wall modeling processes. The solution added a custom Ribbon tab to Revit’s user interface to group all the commands into a single tab to facilitate its usage.

Solution’s detailed workflow and main features:

Vertical Grout.

This command automatically places Structural Columns and Structural Rebars in specific positions inside a masonry wall.

• The user sets the Structural Columns (Grouts) and Structural Rebars configurations.
  • Grout stopping points.
  • Rebar diameter.
  • Number of rebars.
  • Rebar layout (lengths, hooks, and offsets).
• The user selects the position of the Structural Columns inside the masonry wall(s).
• The plugin sorts the positions and places the grout instances.
  • Places the Structural Column.
  • Add any necessary openings to fit the Structural Column inside the blockwork wall’s openings.
  • Places the Structural Rebars inside the Structural Columns according to the predefined settings.

Horizontal Grout.

This command automatically places Structural Framings and Structural Rebars in specific positions inside a masonry wall.

• The user set up the Structural Framings (Grouts) and Structural Rebars configurations.
  • Rebar diameter.
  • Number of rebars.
  • Rebar hook length and direction.
• The user has two options to select the position of the Structural Framings inside the masonry wall(s).
  • Group selection: used to select a blockwork wall Group in the model.
  • Block row selection: used to determine the beginning and end of the Structural Framing.
• The plugin sorts the positions and places the grout instances.
  • Places the Structural Framings.
  • Places the Structural Rebars inside the Structural Framings according to the predefined settings.

Rebar Annotation.

This command automates the creation of detailed Views for the masonry walls and their Structural Rebars in the active model.

• The user opens a masonry wall’s Elevation View and sets up the command’s configuration.
  • Text type.
  • Distance between each detail item and the wall, as well as themselves.
• The plugin will get all the Structural Rebars associated with the selected wall and create detailed items representing the rebar’s characteristics.

Detail Items.

This command quickly places specific detail items into a masonry wall’s Elevation View.

• The user can define the settings for two different types of detail items.
  • Filled Region.
  • Detail Line.
• The user can automatically create the detailed items above/below the selected blockwork row.

Blockwork.

The “Blockwork” command automatically raises the masonry walls to the required height and adapts to fit openings and other structural elements overlapping the wall correctly.

• The user selects the height of the masonry wall.
  • Use a Revit Wall as a reference.
  • Select a Level in the active model.
  • Input a height value.
• The plugin will get the first and second rows of the wall, replicate them, and apply the necessary adjustments.

Toolbox.

This command allows the users to quickly manipulate the blocks in a masonry wall through individual controls. The controls can copy, shift, align, rotate, and duplicate individual blocks and blockwork rows using predefined settings.

The possibility to assign keyboard shortcuts to each control enables a quick and efficient workflow for modeling masonry walls.

Rebar Visibility.

This command includes a set of visibility controls for Structural Rebars in the Active View. The user can use the following controls for all rebars in the active View automatically:

• Make Solid in View.
• Make Wireframe in View.
• Make Obscured in View.

Make Unobscured in View.

Update Vertical Grout.

This command allows users to automatically update the Structural Columns created using the “Vertical Grout” tool.

Other features:

• Isolate Wall.
  • This command will isolate the selected wall(s) and all its attached components (blocks, openings, Structural Columns, Structural Framings, Structural Rebars, etc.).
• Rename Walls.
  • This command will automatically rename walls using CETEC’s internal rules for naming its walls in a model.

Results

The deployment of DiRoots custom tools has transformed CETEC’s approach to masonry projects, delivering unprecedented efficiency, speed, and accuracy.

This leap in technology ensures a dependable data environment for clients, eliminating common errors and dramatically cutting project timelines by up to 90%.

The successful implementation of these tools underscores CETEC’s commitment to innovation.