Process

1. Customer — Kolbe asked for a proposal to create their doors and windows, they have an extensive offering that includes double-hung, casement, fixed windows, transoms, sidelights, French doors, sliding doors and more. Most lines are offered in both wood and aluminum clad. Windows have multiple trims, sill and molding options.

2. Background — In 25 years we have moved from hand drawing, to CAD and now to Revit (BIM). With hand drawing we would indicate a window in plan with three lines and in elevations with four to less than 20 lines. CAD allowed us to add a few more lines to make the objects look a bit more correct but the images were still fundamentally graphical representations, not accurate representations of the products, even when 3D versions of the products were created. With Revit you must have a 3D model (object) to insert into the project. We could take the approach of creating a simple object that would be a graphical representation of a window, with or without property data. When placed in a project anyone familiar with reading drawings would know that it was a window, early Revit projects most often used this approach and was certainly as good as the representations found in hand drawn and CAD created drawings. However, if you have a more sophisticated object to insert in the Revit project you get many advantages such as, 1) detailed product and model properties, 2) realistic representation of the size and shape of the object in plans and elevations, and 3) an object that will render correctly in perspective views and animations. Clearly if these sophisticated objects are available it is logical that they will be preferred.

3. Considerations — In the case of a window there is a long list of considerations such as:

• Sizes — The width and heights can be changed.
• Wall thickness — The window can be placed in any thickness wall. Will a jamb/sill extension be included to automatically resize for variable wall thicknesses.
• Glass and Screens — Glass can be simply shown as one thickness, or can be shown as the actual thickness and as single, double or triple glazed. Screens can be shown, but they will obscure the window.
• Casings/Trim — How many casings will be available and how will they be selected?
• Sill — How may sill conditions will be available and how will they be selected?
• Window Offset — Can the window be offset from the face of the wall toward the interior?
• Profiles — Will each unique profile for frame and sash be created for each product line?
• Divider Bars — Will they be available? Can the user set the number of vertical and horizontal bars, will cottage (prairie style) be included? Will divider bars be included between the glass, on the exterior, on the interior only or be selected by the user? If multiple profiles are available will they all be modeled?
• Renderings — Will the window render correctly? Can the user set different colors for the frame, sash, trim, and divider bars? Can the user do this on both the interior and the exterior?
• CAD details — Will they be associated with the window, included as an underlay, included as a collection of details on a “sheet”?
• Bays and Bows — Will they be included in the scope of work?
• Combinations and Transoms — Will combination windows be created or will the user assemble from individual windows?

4. Approach — There are no right or wrong answers to the considerations. It would be easy to say, yes we want everything, but there are problems with that answer, 1) costs 2) complexity and 3) file size. Kolbe decided that the best approach was to conduct a detailed study to look into each of these considerations so the advantages and disadvantages of different approaches could be evaluated. Based upon the results of this prototyping process the decision to proceed would be made by Kolbe.

5. Prototype — The prototype was created based upon discussions and experiments and it was decided to proceed. The decision was to create very sophisticated windows, windows that would have considerably more functionality, and hopefully more value, than anything available for Revit users.

6. Kick Off Meeting — A two day meeting took place at Kolbe plant in Wisconsin with the Reed modeling team. Discussions included a careful review of the scope, the availability of CAD drawings, degree of accuracy; degree of parametrics (is it better to create one highly parametric object or many less parametric objects). A plant tour took place so Sree (primary modeler and manager of modelers) would be able to see and understand how the windows go together. At this meeting several decisions were made. Kolbe wanted to pursue a very detailed and comprehensive set of Revit models to represent their window and door products to highlight their product features and also to differentiate them from their competitors. At the point of the kick off meeting, there were several features that were deemed very important to accommodate in Kolbe’s Revit models:

• A flexible number of lites in each window model. Rather than have a fixed number of lites, a parametric model would offer the architect a chance to reuse the model in many different designs and to have flexibility with an prominent design element
• Geometry that allowed the architect to see the Kolbe features, realized in the Revit model. Kolbe offers customers a chance to have different interior vs. exterior colors. As geometry in Revit can only be attached one material value, a common geometrical extrusion was broken into two more coordinated pieces so that each could potentially be given a different color.
• Although not a technical part of the window, brickmould and sill nosing are a significant design element and it was decided to accommodate the multiple options with a separate sill assembly tool that allowed the user to match certain sill nosings with certain brickmould. Moreover, every window comes with a standard brickmould and sill nosing pair that can be turned on and off to suit the situation.

7. The Creation Process — Models were created based upon both trial and error on the Revit modeling side as well as regular reviews with Kolbe to insure that we were representing their products correctly and to the level of detail that was important to them. To create excellent objects is a major effort, but the results are worth the effort. Following is a sampling of the concerns and results of the modeling process.

8. Completed Windows and Doors — We have completed a collection of hundreds of doors and windows for Kolbe. These are the most complete collection of manufacture windows and doors available to Revit users.

9. Distribution — The Kolbe SmartBIM Objects are now widely distributed through

• Kolbe site
• SmartBIM Library (a Revit object management tool that sits on the architects desktop)
• Autodesk SEEK
• Reed SmartBuilding Index
• Reed SmartBIM.com

10. Reception and Use — The response has been excellent. Traffic has increased to the Kolbe website and the number of downloads of the Revit files are significant along with a lot of interest in the Kolbe monthly webinars about the Revit models. Architects are impressed with the models, they like the options and have confirmed Kolbe took the right approach with their models. Many architects are just beginning to learn Revit, but those that are using it tell Kolbe and Reed that Revit is definitely the future.