Part 1 Adding the Property Lines
Part 2 Creating the Topography for the Site
Part 3 Creating the Driveway and Concrete Walkway.
Part 4 Adding Trees, People, and Cars to the Site Note: All screenshots are from the Autodesk® Revit® software.
Starting the Tutorial
Start Revit 2017 by clicking on the icon on the desktop.
Open the last file from Tutorial Three, RL3-5.
Save the file as RL4-1.
In this tutorial you will create the topography and site elements needed for the project. The topography will be created based on a collection of points that are at various heights. Site elements will include trees, cars, and people.
RL4-1 – Adding the Property Lines
In this part of the tutorial you will add four property lines around the edge of the site.
Go to the Site Plan view.
If the text for the furnace, water heater, or other appliance families appears, hide the category.
Click on the Property Line tool in the Massing & Site tab, Model Site panel.
Property Line Tool Starting at the Base Point, draw
a rectangular shape 85’-0” wide and 125’-0” tall.
You will be using the Create by sketching option.
Create Property Line Click the Green Check when finished.
Change the properties of the Property Lines.
Open the Visibility Graphics Overrides dialog box, click the “+” next to the Site category, and click in the white box next to Property Lines.
Visibility Graphics Overrides Dialog Click again on the Override…
button that appears.
Set the Weight to 8.
Click Ok to close each dialog box.
Line Graphics Override
You now have a Property Line placed around your house.
Hide the Base Point at the lower left corner of the property line boundary.
Completed Property Line This is the end of Part 1. Save your file as RL4-1.
RL4-2 – Creating the Topography for the Site
In this part of the tutorial you will add a collection of points that will create a mesh that will make up the topography from the site. When creating the topography for a site plan, sometimes this information will come from a contour map of the area or from a site survey provided by a licensed land surveyor.
Open the RL4-1 file. Save the file as RL4-2.
While still in the Site Plan, set the cut plane of the view to 4’-0”.
Also set the Bottom of the view and the View Depth to -10’-0”.
This will expose the edges of the exterior walls.
View Depth Settings Click on the Toposurface tool in the Model
Site panel.
Toposurface Tool In the contextual tab, click on
the Place Point tool.
Place Point Tool In the Option Bar, set the height of the first point to -0’ 10”.
Change the height as needed based on the diagram.
Point Elevation Setting
Place the points around the house as indicated.
Points Around the Perimeter of the House Continuing with the Place Point tool,
place additional points further away from the house.
They do not need to be at the same location as the example.
Location of Points for the Remainder of the Site
Click the Green Check when finished.
After adding the points, you may only see a portion of the contour lines.
Click on the small arrow in the Model Site panel top open the Site Settings dialog box.
Click Arrow to Open the Site Settings Dialog Box
Site Settings Dialog Box Switch to the 3D view.
Changing the Material of the Topography
By default, the material for the topography is set to Earth. You will change it to Grass.
Zoom out to see the edge of the topography.
Click the edge, and then click on
<By Category> text next to Material in the Properties box.
Material Setting for Topography Click on the small box that appears next to <By Category>.
In the Search Window type in Grass.
At the bottom, click on the Grass material in the AEC Materials folder and then click on the box with the Up Arrow.
This will add the material to your project.
Grass Material Click on the Graphics
and check the “Use Render Appearance”
checkbox.
Use Render Appearance Checkbox The
Topography will now be green in color.
Topography with Grass Material Applied This is the end of Part 2. Save your file as RL4-2.
RL4-3 – Creating the Driveway and Concrete Walkway Next you will add the driveway and walkway to the site.
Open the RL4-2 file. Save the file as RL4-3.
Open the Site Plan view.
Change the Visual Style to Shaded.
Click on the Show Crop Region tool.
You may need to zoom out to see the
crop window. Show Crop Region Tool
Click on the Crop View tool to crop the
view to the edge of the crop window. Crop View Tool
Crop the view as shown.
Cropped View with Shading Click on the Subregion tool in the
Modify Site panel.
You do not need to pick the topography first.
Subregion Tool
Draw the boundary of the Subregion as shown.
Dimensions are approximate and will only appear while in Sketch Mode.
Subregion Boundary Set the material of the subregion to Concrete, Cast-in-Place gray.
Click OK when the Warning box appears.
Warning Box Click the Green Check.
The subregion is placed.
This is the end of Part 3. Save your file as RL4-3.
RL4-4 – Adding Trees, People, and Cars to the Site In this part you will add Trees, People and a Car to the site.
Open the RL4-3 file. Save the file as RL4-4.
While still in the Site Plan view, change the view range back to a 200’-0” cut plane.
Leave the bottom and view depth settings at -10’-0”.
Click on the Site Component tool in the Model Site panel.
Site Component Tool In the Properties Box, scroll down to the RPC Tree – Deciduous category and
select one of the trees.
Place the trees at various places around your site.
The location and species of the trees are up to you.
Next you will need to load the families for the people and the car and place them on the site.
Click on the Load Family tool in the Insert tab, Load from Library Panel.
Load Family Tool In the US Imperial folder, scroll down to the folder named Entourage.
Load the following families:
RPC Beetle
RPC Female
RPC Male
Note: You may select all the families at once by holding down the CRTL key.
Load Family Dialog Box
Click on the Site Component tool and add the remaining components to the site.
When placing the people, the arrow indicates the direction that the person is facing.
People Family Component When placing the car, a portion of the component may be
hidden.
This is due to the slope of the topography.
This may be fixed by clicking on the component and setting the offset to 0’ 2”.
Car Component Next you will set up the shadows in the
view.
Turn on the shadows toggle at the bottom of the screen.
Shadows On Toggle
Click on the Sun Path On tool and select the Sun Settings… option.
Sun Settings…
The Sun Settings dialog box will open.
Confirm the
settings as shown.
Sun Settings Dialog Box
When finished you will have a Site Plan similar to the example below.
Completed Site Plan
This is the end of Part 4 and Tutorial Four. Save your file as RL4-4.