I’ve recently started to use grasshopper and RiR. First of all, it is a great plugin and extremely useful, so congrats!
I am a structural engineer and it would be amazing if you could add for the next versions some boxes to add loads to beams and floors. It is really tedious to add loads in revit, and if there would be the possibility of adding the loads from grasshopper it would be great.
I usually export the geometry from Revit to ETABS/SAP2000 and then I add the loads there. However, if there are any changes in geometry I have to add the loads again. If there would be the box of loads this process would much more easy and fast.
I know… That’s why I said it would be great if you could add the option that Revit has of adding loads.
I’ve tried Salamander 3 to export the model from GH to ETABS or SAP2000 but it doesn’t work. I sent an email but i don’t have an answer yet…
@Japhy Just jumping to see if you can confirm there is no way of creating Revit Loads using RiR and GH?
As with the OP there are instances where we are exporting directly from Revit to FEA (Robot or Etabs using native add ins) want to automate the application of loading (area loads for slabs, line loads for beams) prior to export. We currently have Dynamo scripts which can do this however if possible we would like to keep our workflow in GH.
We also use GH FEA plugins like Karamaba and use direct GH to FEA links like Geometry Gym but the ability to create Revit loads through RiR would be very valuable to us.
If there is already something there and I am completely missing it apologies.
Hi Tim, What do you need from Rhino.Inside.Revit to add loads to Revit Elements? This process would vary in the capabilities of different analysis software. Ideally a line with usertext would be used to generate the member in Revit during design, or Revit Elements analyzed and then parameters filled out.
My understanding is that Loads in Revit are standalone elements and are not necessarily attached to an analytical element, You can have Hosted Loads which mirror the geometry of an element but there is nothing in the parameters linking them, so I don’t think we can apply loads to analytical elements through parameters. The main difference between a hosted load and standard load is the hosted load will also be removed if you delete the element it is hosted on. See the image, you can have an area load in space which has no connection to an element (small triangle to the right), a hosted load on floor plate can be seen on the left.
I believe there would need to be a RiR component to create loads (like Add beam etc). As per the image you can bring loads into GH, query them and change them through parameters but I can not see a way to create a new load in Revit using RiR components.
For this discussion the capabilities of the different FEA software is not really relevant. When importing the loads from revit they just see area load or line load etc.
I went back and reviewed our Dynamo loading scripts and it seems we are using Python to call the Revit API and given you have unlocked that for RiR (thankyou) I guess we can also go in GH but was hoping we might not need to do that.
Ok, the original poster was discussing adding in ETABS/SAP2000 and adding loads to beams & floors. It sounds like this should have been about creating a Revit Structural API series of components to add a Load Element.
Lets come up with a list of Components and features that would be would be required to cover the basics.
Are the three loading types, as noted in Revit there are “hosted” and non hosted types of each. Applying hosted loads is the easiest (and what we typically use) as it uses predefined geometry but is less flexible. ie. you could not apply a hosted line load to a slab unless there was a “dummy” beam there.
For Line loads We define the force orientation (ie local or global axis)
Loadcase
Loads area applied to specific load case, these load cases are typically created in Revit manually not via the script. We use a template file.
I believe the OP is talking about the same thing just used a slightly different description. My understanding of their situation is they manually export geometry from Revit to CSI products (SAP,ETABS), I assume through CSIxRevit or similar. Creating Loads manually in Revit is a pain, so they typically manually apply loads in SAP/ETABS after export. If there was a parametric way to apply Revit loads to the Revit model that would reduce abortive work due to changes. The Revit model would be changed, loads applied (all driven by GH) then the model would be exported to FEA again.
Obviously if you wanted a direct parametric link Geometry Gym can create loads in GH direct to SAP, but this is discussing creating loads in Revit.
