Why is it important to accurately model the land features of your project site with a toposurface?
It’s important because it’s necessary to model based on the actual topography of the Earth. It’s ridiculous to model an entire building for a flat surface when the actual surface is much different. However, it’s important to learn how to work with toposurfaces in Revit because I had EXTREME DIFFICULTY. I spent at least 3 hours trying to understand why my toposurface was visible on my upper floor after creating a shaft for my steps. I couldn’t remove the toposurface, but it was fine because my steps were visible at all points besides the 3D upper-level view. It’s quite frustrating, but it’s a vital skill that I need more help with. This is my cry for help.
Why do stairs follow specific proportions with a set relationship between the tread length and riser height?
People are bots — our motor function while climbing stairs is set — and if the steps aren’t at the proportions we are used to, we will trip. Therefore, it’s important to model steps correctly to avoid this potential tripping hazard. Also, it’s helpful that Revit has pre-determined steps while modeling.
Describe a case when it would be worthwhile to create a new custom component in Revit… How do you decide when customize versus using readily available components?
It’s useful to design customs when there isn’t already a pre-designed option in Revit. For example, I wanted to create 3-foot countertops, but they didn’t exist, so I duplicated the 6-foot countertop and edited the length to 3 feet. When your design isn’t simple, straight lines, then customization is key in adapting to one’s creativity.