We had a wonderful Helix launch party lab live! Here are the takeaways, comments and answers to the questions posted across the different platforms that live streamed the event.
What happens when you explode an import symbol?
Model lines get created on the symbol’s hosted level that follow the shape’s outline.
Can you edit the import symbol?
Not natively in Revit
It would be cool to add ability to edit the SketchUp import symbols in Revit.
Are the frame sizes for the window and door starter families consistent, or do the stretch when they are stretched in Revit?
They stay consistent, as they are native Revit elements, and only their width and height instance parameters are changed.
It might be valuable to extend the Helix starter families to allow specification of frames sizes for windows and doors
DXF Imports do not include materials. Would users see a lot of value for that workflow?
Per the feedback, it seemed that materials with textures for SketchUp to Revit DXF transfer would be really cool to have.
What happens when an object is modified in SketchUp and in Revit those elements have tags and dimensions?
Currently, only the objects that were changed get updated. The update, however, does delete and re-create the element with its updated configuration, meaning a new element id is generated. This would make the dimensions or tags pop, and any additional hosted elements to disappear (if those elements were not created by Helix)
We do have ideas in our backlog to improve the update so that elements have their respective parameters updated, or rotation and translations modifications set, instead of re-creating the element. This way, it would retain any additional parametric data set by the user outside of Helix. This feature would need to be implemented differently across categories, and each category has certain ways of adjusting geometry and parameters. It would be helpful for us to know that this is of high value to user workflows before we prioritize this feature over other features.
Below are the mentioned gifs for pipes updating from SketchUp
To further support our development efforts, especially if this tool is useful for your workflows, please consider downloading the free trial, and purchasing a license. Our licensing system is finally available! Follow link below for more:
