2 points of gravity

[Matthew Johnson]

Has anyone been able to devise a library part that can identify the level of two adjacent points?

What I'm trying to do it to create a step notation that with two hotspots can ascertain the level of tow different adjacent slabs and give me the step dimension. The object then needs to be able to respond to changes in those two slabs.

At the moment I can put two Level Dimensions with gravity onto each slab but this still relies on manual calculation to determine the difference (either by the form-worker setting out on site or by the architects in the office checking all of the steps are the correct dimension.

The two point gravity could also be used with meshes to quickly identify the fall between two points.

[Barry Kelly]

It is not possible to script the level dimensions (that I know of).
The best I can think of would be to create an object (that can tell you the placed elevation height if you need it to) that you can place with the gravity tool - but this will only determine the height of one point.
You could then have a stretchy hotspot for the other point that you would have to manually adjust.
Of course the gravity will not link to the initial elements so any changes would require manual adjustment.

Barry.

[Matthew Johnson]

Barry,

That was the conclusion I had reached. I was just hopeful that one of the bright minds on here might have a left of field solution.

[Anonymous]

Matthew

If it's set distance step heights (200mm say) you could do the gravity option as Barry said but then further using the overall storey height figure out the distance between.
I had an old stair counter that did sort of the same thing, in that it took overall storey divided by 172mm default (we tried to keep our steps at 2c) and numbered the step that way. If any of that makes sense.

[Matthew Johnson]

Most of the work we do at the moment is retail and the most common occurrence we have for the tool I mention is setting up the slab set-downs for refrigeration and prep areas. Depending on the temperature of the cold room in question and the brief for each retailer you need to be able to have step-downs that range from 50mm to 250mm.

The problem comes where most shopping centres don't have a common floor level that you can relate to a storey height. Malls rise/fall along the length of the buildings and a shop at one end might be on the storey datum but at the other end you can be up to 2500mm higher (a real problem when the ground floor level at one end of the building is almost as high as the second floor at the other.) The shops in between have to follow the rise and fall and so the individual floor levels can be quite complex. Converting this to simple set-down dimensions would make the documents much easier to read and save a lot of confusion on site.

You also need to be able to accurately describe the relationship between each set-down. The freezer room might be 250mm set-down from the main floor but it is also adjacent to a cold room set down 150mm and a prep room set down 50mm. Spot levels are OK to show the level relative to a datum but step dimensions show how each slab surface relates to those adjacent it.