I have an Estimating software (with items of work, material & labour rates etc.), and I feel that linking it with a design software will help immeasurably. For simplicity sake, I'll not discuss the activity/ assembly part in this post, and rather discuss the far simpler part of construction materials. I'm trying to link my custom 'construction material' database with Revit.
I have a few questions on the matter :-
I have a lot of similar materials (construction elements) that share some properties (parameters) , and then diverge on other properties. Example;
I've got a lot of boards (Insulation boards, Fire Retardant boards, Veneered or Wood Particle boards, BWR boards etc.). They all have certain similar or same parameters (thickness, length, width) but some properties that diverge a bit, like type of board (Interior or Exterior; Plain or Laminate; One or Both Sides decorated; etc.) and material (Ply, Teak, Rockloyd Slab etc.). Some parameters are even specific only to certain boards (Density, for Insulation boards).
Same concept applies to many different materials. i.e.- You can have similar-but-different materials like Doors (Wooden doors, Aluminium doors, Fire rated/ safety doors, security/ vault doors etc.) and Sanitaryware (ceramic, marble, granite, PVC) with the same problems behind it, as given in the example. i.e.- you need specific parameters that pertain to that specific material.
Now, to my questions :-
1. Will I need to create custom libraries for all the different doors, boards? i.e.- Individual custom libraries for Ceramic washbasins, Plastic washbasin etc., complete with custom parameters for each individual library.
2. Can I create parameters for each custom library, but then add specific parameters from shared libraries to them? i.e.- Common parameters (thickness, material, code etc.) that remain same no matter what type of 'basic' family, then add other specific properties (parameters) from custom parameters.
3. Is it possible for custom parameters to get lifted automatically, based on some simple parametric selections? i.e.-
If someone chooses the wash basin element to add in his model, and then selects 'Ceramic' as the wash-basin material, other properties (parameter heads) linked specifically to Ceramic wash basins get selected automatically.
If I'm completely on the wrong track, please feel free to direct me to the right direction.
To end this, if anyone here has knowledge on this, and even a shred of interest, please go through my brief posting history to get an idea of what I'm trying to do. Any help or time (even the tiniest bit) that you can spare will be appreciated immensely.
Thank you,