AutoTURN is a product that has been around for a long time... as an add-in for CAD it has been used by civil engineers to define and verify the path of travel and clearances required for vehicles. Transoft Solutions, the makers of AutoTURN, have a version which works with Revit.
In today's post, I will show the simple workflow used to validate vehicle travel paths in Revit.
I wrote a post about AutoTurn's original integration with Revit, back in 2018, here: Product Review: AutoTURN for Revit. This was a tool which worked exclusively within Revit, and therefore had workflows which where more difficult than what we have now.
High Level Workflow:
- Open desired Revit view
- Push view to cloud-based AutoTurn view
- Develop vehicle simulations
- Push results back to Revit view (as separate pinned import)
The first image, above, shows a portion of the AutoTurn user interface.
The main tools are:
- Select vehicle type
- Define a simulation path
- Place vehicle type stats (profile)
The image below shows the resultant vehicle simulation pushed back into the Revit view. This is view specific and not 3D.
Each simulation and vehicle profile are separate imports, which may be selected, moved, and deleted. There is some visibility control in the Visibility/Graphics Override dialog, as shown here:
Here is a short video I created using a Lake|Flato project (8.5 minutes): click here
Here is a short video by Transoft Solutions: Getting Started with AutoTURN Online Integrated for Revit
This is a great tool that many architects can likely find value in.
Update:
After posting this I realized I did not provide enough information on the value and accuracy of this tool, based on comments on Twitter and LinkedIn. I saw comments asking if the arcs were the same for all vehicles, etc. All fair points if you are not familiar with Autoturn, which I am and therefore took for granted you would also know what it is:) I was mainly focusing on the Revit integration.
Everything is based on the vehicle data like space between axel, steering range, speed, and more. The simulation path cannot move in a direction the vehicle cannot actually drive. You can even account for steering from a stopped position.
It is not uncommon for a municipality to require documentation showing a fire truck can properly maneuver around a proposed building design in the vent of a fire... and, in such as way that there will be no damage to the building, parked vehicle, and/or the fire truck itself.
Here is a 36 minute webinar on this topic:
This link (and image below) is just one of many you can find, online, of municipality's providing Autoturn information so designers can validate their design meets local requirements: City of Franklin, TN : Apparatus Autoturn
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