IMPACT Reinforcement - Revit workflow

So you want to use IMPACT Reinforcement in your Revit projects? With the right settings it's easy.


In Revit, export a dwg-file for each plan that you want to reinforce.













Create a new AutoCAD-drawing and xref the Revit export into it, making sure that the instertion point is 0,0.

Start reinforcing. Here I created a simple reinforcement plan using the palettes surface reinforcement tools.

Save the drawing and go back to Revit.
















Back in the plan view, run the link CAD command. Import CAD can also be used, but this will not allow you to update the drawing to reflect changes made in the dwg-file.

Make sure that Positioning is set to Auto - Origin to origin so that the drawings line up correctly.











If you have used the same scales in AutoCAD as you have set in Revit, dashed lines should appear the same. However, as you can see in the picture to the left, I have lost the diameter symbol for the rebar text. This has to do with Revit using standard Windows fonts while AutoCAD uses SHX-files for text.












In your Revit installation folder ...\Program Files\Autodesk Revit Structure 2010\Data, there is a file named shxfontmap.txt. Open this in a texteditor. Here you can see what fonts AutoCAD shx-files are replaced by when imported into Revit. To add a font, simply write on a new row the name of your shx-file followed by a tab and the name of the font you wish to use in Revit. Depending on the font used, it may require some testing before the texts look ok.



















In this case I used "iso.shx isocpeur". The diameter symbol looks ok, but a linebreak has appearedd in some of the texts.

















In this picture I used "iso.shx isocp", which seems to be working for me.













Edit: It has come to my attention that the isocp font is too thin for printing properly. This is probably because it is not a proper TrueType font. Instead I have found that using Arial Unicode MS has given me good results. Diameter symbols show up OK and there dont seem to be any incorrect carriage returns.

Now when I have made any changes to the reinforcement, I can simply reload the CAD link using the manage links command.

In 3D view I can even see the leg of the L-shaped rebar connecting the slab and walls.


Happy reinforcing!

Revit to FEM Design

IMPACT Reinforcement Detect bar shape

Erection Sequence and Remark

Last week we talked about cranes and erection sequence. Erection sequence was already implemented in IMPACT Precast version 8.2. In 9.0 we have implemented Remark. You can add a remark to the element in the 3D model e.g. a note for the team or complexity factor. The remark will also be transfered to Eliplan and Betsy or to your reports.

There are new service releases available. These are the latest versions:

FEM-Design 8.04.007 (August 13)
Revit FEM-Design Add-In 1.0.000 (June 30)
IMPACT Precast 9.0.006 (August 5)
IMPACT Reinforcement 4.1.001 (June 16)

Keep your software updated.

Construction cranes

With the new IMPACT 9.0 we have made a total redesign of the database and also a new powerful configuration tool 'IMPACT Adminitrative Tool'. All old superusers will be surprised, no more tables. The new database will be a very good platform for the future development.

The development of version 9.1 is already almost done and the tesing has started. One new component is the Crane. You can add different cranes types with differnt lifting capacities at different radiuses and make restrictions to sectors, max height and max radius. You can then add virtual construction cranes to the 3D model. IMPACT will check the units mass with the crane capacity.



In the example above the green elements are ready for production, the red are not ready and the blue are to hevay for the crane. (You can use your own colors.) The new tooltip will show element information like Type, Name, Id, Phase, Mass etc.

You can also set and show erection sequence in the 3D model. All information will of course be transfered to the planning systems like Betsy and Eliplan.