Wednesday, August 15, 2012

Egress Path Options

In 2006 I demonstrated (at Autodesk University) the then new line based family type by explaining how we could use it to document egress path requirements also known as exiting plans. Since then a couple other options have come along.

One is the notion of using a railing type. They are also derived from a path and we can use a profile to represent the form of a person traveling through a corridor. That's not a requirement but it does make it easier to visualize it in 3d views.

Another is to use the newer adaptive point concepts in a family. Initially we could only use them in the massing category. As soon as they opened them up to more categories it made it more palatable to consider them for this purpose.

Defining the requirements for documenting exiting are naturally going to affect the success of any solution we try to provide. Ideal we should be able to provide a total length of travel from one place to an exit, identify the length of any segment of the path and provide a clear descriptive way to show how our design meets codes in plan views, at a minimum.

The new adaptive point approach requires building a family that provides however many segments are required in advance. It isn't possible to tag individual segments though a tag could display a summary of each segment as well as the total (Edit: there is nothing to prevent us from creating a two point family and using the chain placement approach, that would support tagging individual segments). Adaptive points don't permit nesting detail components so the annotation used to display special nodes at the beginning, end or at nodes along the path requires geometry that will take more work to scale according to a view scale.

Sean Burke shared a You Tube video of the adaptive point approach in action, check it out (embedded below). At least now there are more options to choose from. Pick the one you think best fits your requirements!

Sean Burke's example



Afredo Medina shared a You Tube video of his LBGM approach.



Summary of Past Egress Posts (a summary)
Egress Path
Egress Path Update
Egress Path Tags - New Versions
Egress Path of Travel Uh Oh
Egress Example Update
Egress Regress
Egress Family Arc Version

13 comments:

Anonymous said...

I'm not sure if it is just my computer, by the links are not showing for the youtube videos

Steve said...

I see them embedded in all three browsers I use IE9, Chrome and Firefox. Any chance your web connection is blocking You Tube? For example, some offices block You Tube during work hours.

Alfredo Medina said...

I think the adaptive approach could be improved and simplified by using a family that has just 2 adaptive points. This will eliminate the inconvenience of having to click a specific number of points to create the path. Using two points in the family and using "chain" in the projects provides more flexibility.

Steve said...

I added that to the text yesterday though it does bring back the total length tagging issue, the advantage of building a multi-point AC family.

RevitCat said...

Hi Steve,
I described the multi-point adaptive component in my presentation at RTC 2011. Also posted on my blog here:
http://revitcat.blogspot.com.au/2012/04/escape-path-egress-travel-distance.html

My adaptive component has a counter to preset how many segments you want - that way you can avoid the potential of user error that could happen in a chain of 2 point components.
Tim Waldock

Steve said...

Hey Tim sorry about that, how could I forget you?!?! Thanks for the reminder.

Arno de Lange said...

Another way to accomplish this is the use of railings.
Has multiple advantages:
You can make bends and you can use it in the 3Dimensions.
With a start and end baluster as starting and finishing point.

Antoine Petitdemange said...

Gee, a railing! That's a clever workaround!

ambrozote said...

very nice tips for egress path families.

how would you control if the dot and arrow display at start and end of the egress path?
And if the number of points change, with a parameter, how do you manage to lock the arrow always to the end point? being that the 2nd, 3rd, or 4th point, say.

ledge33 said...

I am trying to follow alfredo's video on the egress path. I am having trouble with the label that shows the distance of the line segment to show properly in the schedule. I think my disconnect is where I create the shared parameter. I am able to create a shared parameter but when I schedule it, it reads the shared parameter name instead of the value of the line segment that it represents. any help would be greatly appreciated.

ledge33 said...

i am having trouble with the scheduling. I am familiar with shared parameters. but I cannot figure out how to make the label that is the generic annotation as a shared parameter and have it show up in the schedule? THIS IS FOR ALFREDO'S VIDEO

Steve said...

Ledge33 - Alfredo's approach is very similar to the one I describe in my other posts on this subject and the families and sample project I've shared before.

His nests a family for the length instead of using a tag like mine. Mine also uses a Start, Middle and End type to manage turning on and off the dot and arrow for multi-segment paths.

It all starts at the Label Family - there are three stock families in the Annotation library that comes with Revit For example: Label Annotation 3-32.rfa is one such family. It has a text parameter/label though so a new version of the family is needed that is assigned to a Length Shared Parameter instead, using some other name than Length.

The annotation family is nested into the parent Line Based family. The annotation family must be mapped to the same Shared Parameter in the host family so MyLength can determine its value from the Length parameter built in by Revit.

Once the annotation is nested, parameter mapped it can be loaded into a project. You should find the shared parameter among the available parameters in the schedule at this point.

Does this get you any closer?

ledge33 said...

steve,
i emailed you with the family attached for your review. i understand the nested families. the disconnect is where/when I make the shared parameter? I have been trying different methods and getting the same result. the schedule reads the family name instead of the actual distance.