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Fit Structure: Model Beams and Columns from a Point Cloud in Revit

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Measuring every beam and column of an existing building is slow, and steel sections are easy to get wrong. Fit Structure models beams and columns from point cloud scans in Revit: click the member in the scan, and it is created at the measured size with a matching type.

Fit Structure models beams and columns from point cloud scans

Why model beams and columns from point cloud data

  • Sizes come from the scan. Width and depth are measured for you, so there are no tape measures or section cuts.
  • Types are made or reused. A 300 × 600 beam gets a type such as 300x600. If a type with that size already exists, it is used.
  • Steel and concrete. Beams can be rectangular, I/H, channel or angle sections; columns rectangular, I/H or round.
  • Honest results. When the scan is not clear enough, the tool tells you why and skips the member instead of guessing.

Before you start

  1. Link the point cloud and make sure the project has levels.
  2. Load the beam and column families you want to use.
  3. Click Fit Structure on the Zeta BIM tab. A dockable panel opens with two tabs: Beam and Column.

Beams

  1. Choose the Beam Type to copy new sizes from, and the Pick mode:
    • 1 click · auto: click one point on the beam; its length is found.
    • 2 clicks: pick the start and the end of the beam.
  2. Click Create, then click beams in the point cloud. Press Esc to finish.
Option What it does
Section Auto reads the shape from the type. Choose it by hand if a custom family is read wrong.
Ref. Level Auto uses the nearest level below the beam.
Size and type name Depth adjustment (e.g. slab thickness), rounding, maximum size, prefix and suffix.
Snap horizontal / Snap to project axes Straightens beams that are almost level or almost on an axis or grid.
Disallow join at ends Keeps new beams from joining automatically.

Columns

  1. Choose the Column Type and the levels.
  2. Click Create. In a plan view click inside the column; in other views click on a face of it.
  3. Keep clicking columns, then press Esc.

Base Level Auto uses the level of the plan view, and Top Level Auto the next level above. Orthogonal snaps the rotation when it is within 2°. For I/H and round columns, an existing type of almost the same size is used first.

Parameter names in Settings

Fit Structure sets the size of each new type through the family’s width and depth parameters. Standard Revit structural families work as they are. If your company families use other names, enter them once:

  1. Open Zeta BIM › Settings.
  2. On the Beam page, fill in Width (parameter name) and Height (parameter name).
  3. On the Column page, fill in Width (parameter name) and Depth (parameter name).
  4. Separate several names with commas, for example Width, W, b. The first name found in the family is used.

If a family has none of these parameters, Fit Structure tells you which names it looked for and does not create a wrong size.

Good to know

  • The status line shows each result, for example the size and type used.
  • The type lists can be searched by typing.

Video

Get ZetaBIM

ZetaBIM is a Revit plugin for scan-to-BIM teams. See the complete guide to the Revit point cloud plugin workflow. Download ZetaBIM to try it, browse more ZetaBIM tutorials, or watch the videos on the ZetaBIM YouTube channel.

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