Discussion: Keeping two different detail level models linked?

VisualARQ
1

Hello

I wanted to discuss methods of linking multiple files(Or other methods) to keep two separate files linked. Our current workflow is as such:

  1. Start design process with Rhino+VisARQ sketching getting close to a final design.
  2. Design Approval
  3. Branch design file into two files; one Simple and one Detailed
  4. In the detailed file, redefine all building components to desired level of detail(For us this means 1:50)
  5. Keeping the other file simple with all generic walls and slabs, correcting thicknesses to match construction(This file we use for all 1:100 and over exports)
  6. Sometimes we even branch off another file for rendering and other visualization.

But… This means that as changes come rolling in(as they always do) We now have twice the upkeep, one for the detailed file and one for the simplified “design” file. Also this means that when printing PDF’s we either have to copy the exploded detailed sections into the design file or vice versa.

What are your workflows?

2 Likes
2

Great question! Can you provide an example of an element/system where you add detail for the 1:50 post-approval work?

3

It’s rather basic, we set up the walls, slabs and roofs according to construction, sometimes adding detail to windows as well. Then try to adjust the joints as much as possible in 3D, but VisualARQ is very limited in the joint between slab and wall.

We pull whatever section and plan views we want from this more detailed model, explode the drawings(keeping a linked view somewhere else in the file). We always need to do a sizable amount of manual work adjusting all joints and hatches in 2D, not very BIM…
Examples of a section of a section:

image
image.png1336Ă—950 95.1 KB

This also means that we’re almost exclusively 2D on details above this level.

1 Like
4

Hi Roi,
Are the “Simple” and “Detailed” files already linked? If you insert the “Simple” file as an “Embedded and Linked” block into the “Detailed” one, then you will just need to update the Simple file from Block Manager when there are any changes.

5

No not linked currently, I have sometimes referenced the simple version into the detailed one as a block and then turned that on and off accordingly, which makes it quite a bit easier to adjust the two models. For smaller changes a simple copy/paste between the two and an adjustment of wall type is enough. I’ve also played with the idea of making this a .gh script but haven’t fully thought about how I want to attack the problem from a grasshopper point of view.