Converting ARC linked Files to a single Solid Mass.

I do not know if it has ever happened to you to have many linked architectural files and willing to convert them into a single solid mass. In our case, we needed to launch some calculations through the Insight 360 without having to open architectural files one by one and run calculations. So we've developed this script. I hope it can be of some help to you as well.

Note: The script works pretty well for well-constructed architectural models, due to Dynamo's difficulty in handling closed polylines (yeah architects... i am talking to you! :) )

This is the model i am started from.

This is just an overview of the script

Step 1, Collect Roofs and Floors from the linked files. The script works good also with curtain panel and so on. Then convert revit items to dynamo geometries.

First trick! remove "null" item to avoid error in next nodes.

Step 2. Deconstruct geometries into faces. the idea is to find the top faces of building and extrude them to the ground level.

Second trick :) Ok it is really not a trick, just remove the vertical faces from the list of faces to extrude. Just a bit of vector geometry... yeah This answers the question we asked in our mind during the classroom of the first year of engineering ... "when will I ever use this stuff?" .. :)

Now the real work. Deconstruct Faces to point and then to curve in order to create closed polycurve to extrude.

Elevation of roofs and floors is needed to calculate the distance of the extrusions.

The job is done, extrude, join the solids (so you will have a single item, very light to manage in your model), and finaly create a mass in revit.

Finaly think about the possibility to add an input mask to help operator to use your script.

Enjoy!

Daniel