Entourage On-Demand
Overview
Entourage On-Demand is a tool that allows users to quickly place entourage elements across a set boundary or entire topography. This allows professionals to save time placing these elements one by one, and focus on more technical aspects of the project. Users can either select an entire site topography surface, or choose model lines which define a specific area (such as a parking lot or a backyard on a larger site) and Entourage On-Demand allows easy placement of trees, shrubs, people, and other elements with just a few clicks.
Above: Different entourage elements at different densities across a user-defined area (shown in the sample Revit architectural project).
How to Use
Dynamo Workflow
Above: Entire Dynamo script
The logic of the model places points randomly across an entire site surface or a specific user-defined area on the site, and places entourage elements at each of those points. The user can select which entourage elements they want to place, and use the sliders to set the density of points. This script allows for two sets of densities (i.e. the user can set a high density for trees and shrubs and set a lower one for people and animals) but the nodes can easily be copied or deleted as needed to allow for different densities of different elements.
Step 1 - Select site or user-defined surface
First, the user can select either an entire topography or a user-defined surface. This example shows a specific region defined with 10 model lines.
Step 2 - Select different entourage elements for different densities
Next, the user can select different entourage elements for different densities. This example shows one set of forestry elements at a high density, and people and dogs placed at a low density.
Step 3 - Set densities
The last step for the user is to set densities for the different element categories. The number slider determines the number of random points that will be placed across the surface.
Step 5 - Compile selected elements into one list and place points
Next, the Dynamo script feeds the selected entourage elements into a List.Create node and compiles them into one list. A custom node Point.Random takes the geometry from the selected surface or user-defined region, and places random points throughout it at a density specified by the user.
Step 6 - Place entourage elements
Finally, the list of entourage elements is fed into another custom node, FamilyInstance.Percentage, which places elements in equal proportions at the random points placed across the surface.
Step 7 - List elements
Two watch nodes list the entourage elements that have been placed across the surface and their element IDs.