Video: Working with Toposolids

Excavate a toposolid with floor elements and modify a toposolid with XYZ snaps.

This video demonstrates the following:

  1. Excavate a toposolid with floor elements.
  2. Add points using XYZ snaps.
  3. Smooth toposolids in the model.
Note: This video may have been recorded using a different version of Revit than the most current version. When using another software release, you may notice differences in functionality and user interface.

Transcript

Once you have created a toposolid in your model you will probably need to alter it and work with it to shape the site for your building. This video will show a selection of tools you can use when working with toposolids.

First, we will excavate the toposolid for our building. There are two floor elements placed within the boundary of the toposolid. Select the toposolid and on the contextual tab, click Excavate. Select the floors one by one to excavate the toposolid.

The instance properties of the toposolid lists the total excavated volume. Click View next to Individual Excavation Volume to open a dialog each excavation individually.

The next tool to explore is shape editing snaps. Here, we want to grade the toposolid up to the floor edge along the south and east edges of the main slab. With the toposolid selected, click Add Point. On the Modifier Elevation panel select Sanp XYZ and set the Offset from Snaps to -6”. Click the corners of the floor edge on the South and East edges. You can see in the 3D view, the toposolid has been graded to 6” below the floor along the edges.

As a toposolid is graded like this you may see it become faceted as the shape is changed to match the elevation points. You may consider setting toposolid element in your model to use Smooth Shading to reduce the faceted appearance.

On the Massing and Site tab, click the drop-down arrow on the Model Site panel and select, Toposolid smooth shading. If being use for the first time, you will see a dialog explaining the tool and the limitations. This is a global setting for the model file, all toposolid elements will be smoothed. You can see the faceted appearance is reduced in the 3D view once smooth shading is applied.