Revit - rebar(part 2), Free form rebar - example 20

Picture 1: Result

Download the full Revit Rebar tutorial PDF here

0. Intro 

We now move over to our second wall, a curved wall. To solve the rebar challenges, the free form rebar option will be used. For the straight rebars, the Free form rebar surface will be applied, and for the U-shaped rebars, the free form rebar Aligned used.

1. Free Form Rebar surface

To apply the free form rebar option, open a 3D view, and press the Rebar button.

Picture 2

The picture below shows the option that appears after pressing the rebar button in a 3D view. What we want is to place horizontal rebars along the curved wall. 

First off, decide the values for the rebar set, select the Surface option, and mark the curved surface of the wall.

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When that is done, and you have the same set up, as shown above, Select Start Surface, and mark the top surface of the wall, further select End Surface, and mark the bottom surface of the curved wall.

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Do the exact same on the other side. For the Vertical straight rebars, only different, change the start and end surface to the vertical surfaces and the end of the wall.

The finished product will look like the picture below. For a full walkthrough see the video. The rebars will snap to our predetermined rebar cover settings.

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2. Free Form Rebar surface edit constraints

Let’s say the wall will continue up in a vertical direction for a new store, and we want our vertical rebars to extend up 1000mm.  

Select the vertical rebars and press Edit constraints. Revit will appear like Picture 8. Press the small dot, marked in the picture and write in the desired number the rebars will extend upwards from the wall.

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Picture 8

The second edit constraints adjustment that demands attention is the horizontal rebars, it needs to be reorganized so it won’t collide with the vertical once. See picture below. 

 

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3.Free Form Rebar aligned

Next up is our U-shaped rebars, this task can be done by the function Free Form Rebar Aligned. But some manual work, calculation, and edit constraints are needed.  When hitting the Rebar button, when having a 3D view open, the screen below will appear. 

Press aligned and select the host surfaces for the U-shaped rebar. A total of 3 surfaces is selected before pressing the path button. The 3 selected surfaces form a U-shape which will eventually form the U-shaped rebars. If we only desired L-shape rebar, 2 surfaces would be the desired number of surfaces selected from the host surfaces option.

Further, when done selecting the surfaces, press path and select the path the rebars will follow, in our case, it will follow the bottom curved line.

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After completion, the U shaped rebars will form but the rebars have not the desired dimensions values, to correct it, change the Workshop instructions from keeping straight to bend.

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4.Free Form Rebar aligned edit constraints

The rebar now acts as a U-shape, with the correct shape and dimensions values a, b, and c, but the values are greyed out and not possible to change, we need to edit constraints and do some simple calculations to get our desired dimensions values.

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Picture 16: Result

Click here for Revit Rebar tutorial part 3

5.Video demonstration