How do I specify a door pivot point?

Using IFC 2x3 I am trying to create a simple pivot door that pivots on a rod in the floor underneath the door. I’ve read that I can use the door’s local placement to specify a pivot point but I haven’t had any success with that.

I guess I was hoping that after importing into Revit, that Revit would adjust its generated door swing indicator to show the altered pivot point somehow. Perhaps I’m not using LocalPlacement correctly.

If this sounds like it should be possible, could someone show me how to move a pivot point using the attached sample file?
BasicDoor.ifc (14.7 KB)

Hi, npackham, I’m not sure this is possible. If you look at the docs for IfcDoorTypeOperationEnum, it doesn’t get into location of the pivot / hinge axis. This seems to be assumed. I think what you’d have to do is apply a custom pSet to the door you’re creating and have some way of making your Revit family interpret this additional data set. (Is this possible within an RFA?)

Thanks for the reply, Robert.

I had read a proposal about hinge placement and pivot points in a document at http://www.blis-project.org/private/proposals/IFCR2_DoorSwingDirections_991220_jh.pdf
and wondered if there was something formal defined for pivot points that may be displaced slightly from the placement origin.

You floated the idea of a Revit family ‘interpreting’ pset data. Intriguing, but I’m a little baffled at how this would be possible.

What I know about Revit families:

  • Of course a ‘family’ can be created in Revit from scratch.
  • I can imagine a Revit family being created from an IFC type via some custom import like a revit plugin. (See GeometryGym)
  • There doesn’t seem to be any out-of-the-box reuse of families in the current Revit IFC import process, meaning each IFC product is ending up with its own family in Revit after import.

I’m using the “File/Open IFC” functionality of Revit.
Maybe there is a fundamental possibility that I’m missing here. I didn’t know there was a way to leverage existing families during an IFC import.

@npackham just for completeness, I believe the documentation does not actually specify the door pivot point to be related to the object placement. Instead, the documentation states that the +Y axis, and left/right position of the object placement determines the operation type of the door (left hung, left swing, or right hung, right swing). However, that does not mean that the object placement actually coincides with the exact pivot point.

In fact, the diagrams on the documentation actually specify the object placement to be located not at the pivot point, not even at a bounding point, but at one corner of where the lining might hit a wall junction:

image

… here’s another image which shows this convention used throughout the docs …

image

As such, I would not fault Revit for not interpreting the object placement as you expect. I agree with @randerson’s conclusion that this is not possible.

Hope it helps.

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