I am attending the Forge DevCon conference in Darmstadt, Germany, right now, and putting the final touches to my presentation on Rational BIM programming using Revit and Forge at the European Autodesk University on Wednesday.
We discussed several different approaches to retrieve the outer loop of a planar face.
One useful piece of related functionality was provided early on by the point in polygon algorithm.
Previous discussions of this topic include:
ExporterIFCUtils method GetInstanceCutoutFromWall returns the outer CurveLoop of a window or a doorRecently, it also turned to the additional complexity of retrieving the multiple outer loops required for disjunct planar faces, raised in the Revit API discussion forum thread on whether the first edge loop is still the outer loop, for which Richard @rpthomas108 Thomas shared a possible solution:
He now posted a new approach to this question in the Revit API discussion forum thread on outer loops of planar face with separate parts:
Just wanted to report that I've found a more straightforward and likely reliable way of getting outer loops of planar faces (than previous discussed). This method also allows for faces made up of disjointed parts.
The approach is to create some undocumented solid extrusions using GeometryCreationUtilities based on curve loop parts of original face. Then extract the parallel top face from these (now separated out) and use powerful built in functionality of the PlanarFace class (PlanarFace.IsInside) to check for loops with points not inside other faces. We only have to check one point because curve loops can't be self-intersecting.
It would be nice if we could create PlanarFace elements directly with the GeometryCreationUtilities (to cut out some of the above steps), but that does not seem possible yet. I've created an idea entry here for this:
API GeometryCreationUtilities to create faces.
I've tested this solution on some interesting slab shapes shown below and results seem reliable.
Public Function GetPlanarFaceOuterLoops( ByVal commandData As Autodesk.Revit.UI.ExternalCommandData, ByRef message As String, ByVal elements As Autodesk.Revit.DB.ElementSet) As Result Dim IntApp As UIApplication = commandData.Application Dim IntUIDoc As UIDocument = IntApp.ActiveUIDocument If IntUIDoc Is Nothing Then Return Result.Failed Else Dim IntDoc As Document = IntUIDoc.Document Dim R As Reference = Nothing Try R = IntUIDoc.Selection.PickObject(Selection.ObjectType.Face) Catch ex As Exception End Try If R Is Nothing Then Return Result.Cancelled Else Dim F_El As Element = IntDoc.GetElement(R.ElementId) If F_El Is Nothing Then Return Result.Failed Else Dim F As PlanarFace = TryCast( F_El.GetGeometryObjectFromReference(R), PlanarFace) If F Is Nothing Then Return Result.Failed Else 'Create individual CurveLoops to compare ' From the orginal CurveLoopArray 'If floor has separate parts these will now be ' separated out into individual faces rather ' than one face with multiple loops. Dim CLoop As New List(Of Tuple(Of PlanarFace, CurveLoop, Integer)) Dim Ix As Integer = 0 For Each item As CurveLoop In F.GetEdgesAsCurveLoops Dim CLL As New List(Of CurveLoop) CLL.Add(item) 'Create a solid extrusion for each CurveLoop ' (we want to get the planarFace from this to ' use built in functionality (.PlanarFace.IsInside). 'Would be nice if you could skip this step and create ' PlanarFaces directly from CuveLoops? Does no appear ' To be possible, I only looked in GeometryCreationUtilities. 'Below creates geometry in memory rather than actual ' Geometry in the document, therefore no transaction required. Dim S As Solid = GeometryCreationUtilities _ .CreateExtrusionGeometry(CLL, F.FaceNormal, 1) For Each Fx As Face In S.Faces Dim PFx As PlanarFace = TryCast(Fx, PlanarFace) If PFx Is Nothing Then Continue For Else If PFx.FaceNormal.IsAlmostEqualTo(F.FaceNormal) Then Ix += 1 CLoop.Add(New Tuple(Of PlanarFace, CurveLoop, Integer)(PFx, item, Ix)) End If Next Next Dim FirstPointIsInsideFace = Function( CL As CurveLoop, PFace As PlanarFace) _ As Boolean Dim Trans As Transform = PFace.ComputeDerivatives(New UV(0, 0)) If CL.Count = 0 Then Return False Else Dim Pt As XYZ = Trans.Inverse.OfPoint(CL(0).GetEndPoint(0)) Dim Res As IntersectionResult = Nothing Dim out As Boolean = PFace.IsInside(New UV(Pt.X, Pt.Y), Res) Return out End Function Dim OuterLoops As New List(Of CurveLoop) 'If there is more than one outerloop we know ' the original face has separate parts. 'We could therefore stop the creation of floors ' With separate parts via posting failures etc. ' Or more passively create a geometry checking ' utility To identify them. Dim InnerLoops As New List(Of CurveLoop) For Each item As Tuple(Of PlanarFace, CurveLoop, Integer) In CLoop 'To identify an inner loop we just need to see ' If any Then Of it's points are inside another face. 'The exception to this is a loop compared to the ' Face it was taken from. This will also be considered ' inside as the points are on the boundary. 'Therefore give each item an integer ID to ensure it ' isn 't self comparing. An alternative would be to ' look for J=1 instead of J=0 below (perhaps). Dim J As Integer = CLoop.ToList.FindAll( Function(z) FirstPointIsInsideFace(item.Item2, z.Item1) _ = True AndAlso z.Item3 <> item.Item3).Count If J = 0 Then OuterLoops.Add(item.Item2) Else InnerLoops.Add(item.Item2) End If Next Using Tx As New Transaction(IntDoc, "Outer loops") If Tx.Start = TransactionStatus.Started Then Dim SKP As SketchPlane = SketchPlane.Create( IntDoc, Plane.CreateByThreePoints(F.Origin, F.Origin + F.XVector, F.Origin + F.YVector)) For Each Crv As CurveLoop In OuterLoops For Each C As Curve In Crv IntDoc.Create.NewModelCurve(C, SKP) Next Next Tx.Commit() End If End Using Return Result.Succeeded End Function
public Result GetPlanarFaceOuterLoops( Autodesk.Revit.UI.ExternalCommandData commandData, ref string message, Autodesk.Revit.DB.ElementSet elements ) { UIApplication IntApp = commandData.Application; UIDocument IntUIDoc = IntApp.ActiveUIDocument; if( IntUIDoc == null ) return Result.Failed; Document IntDoc = IntUIDoc.Document; Reference R = null; try { R = IntUIDoc.Selection.PickObject( ObjectType.Face ); } catch { } if( R == null ) return Result.Cancelled; Element F_El = IntDoc.GetElement( R.ElementId ); if( F_El == null ) return Result.Failed; PlanarFace F = F_El.GetGeometryObjectFromReference( R ) as PlanarFace; if( F == null ) return Result.Failed; //Create individual CurveLoops to compare from // the orginal CurveLoopArray //If floor has separate parts these will now be // separated out into individual faces rather // than one face with multiple loops. List<Tuple<PlanarFace, CurveLoop, int>> CLoop = new List<Tuple<PlanarFace, CurveLoop, int>>(); int Ix = 0; foreach( CurveLoop item in F.GetEdgesAsCurveLoops() ) { List<CurveLoop> CLL = new List<CurveLoop>(); CLL.Add( item ); //Create a solid extrusion for each CurveLoop // ( we want to get the planarFace from this // to use built in functionality (.PlanarFace.IsInside). //Would be nice if you could skip this step and // create PlanarFaces directly from CuveLoops? // Does not appear to be possible, I only looked // in GeometryCreationUtilities. //Below creates geometry in memory rather than // actual geometry in the document, therefore // no transaction required. Solid S = GeometryCreationUtilities .CreateExtrusionGeometry( CLL, F.FaceNormal, 1 ); foreach( Face Fx in S.Faces ) { PlanarFace PFx = Fx as PlanarFace; if( PFx == null ) continue; if( PFx.FaceNormal.IsAlmostEqualTo( F.FaceNormal ) ) { Ix += 1; CLoop.Add( new Tuple<PlanarFace, CurveLoop, int>( PFx, item, Ix ) ); } } } List<CurveLoop> OuterLoops = new List<CurveLoop>(); //If there is more than one outerloop we know the // original face has separate parts. //We could therefore stop the creation of floors // with separate parts via posting failures etc. // or more passively create a geometry checking // utility to identify them. List<CurveLoop> InnerLoops = new List<CurveLoop>(); foreach( Tuple<PlanarFace, CurveLoop, int> item in CLoop ) { //To identify an inner loop we just need to see // if any of it's points are inside another face. //The exception to this is a loop compared to the // face it was taken from. This will also be // considered inside as the points are on the boundary. //Therefore give each item an integer ID to ensure // it isn't self comparing. An alternative would // be to look for J=1 instead of J=0 below (perhaps). int J = CLoop.ToList().FindAll( z => FirstPointIsInsideFace( item.Item2, z.Item1 ) == true && z.Item3 != item.Item3 ).Count; if( J == 0 ) { OuterLoops.Add( item.Item2 ); } else { InnerLoops.Add( item.Item2 ); } } using( Transaction Tx = new Transaction( IntDoc, "Outer loops" ) ) { if( Tx.Start() == TransactionStatus.Started ) { SketchPlane SKP = SketchPlane.Create( IntDoc, Plane.CreateByThreePoints( F.Origin, F.Origin + F.XVector, F.Origin + F.YVector ) ); foreach( CurveLoop Crv in OuterLoops ) { foreach( Curve C in Crv ) { IntDoc.Create.NewModelCurve( C, SKP ); } } Tx.Commit(); } } return Result.Succeeded; } public bool FirstPointIsInsideFace( CurveLoop CL, PlanarFace PFace ) { Transform Trans = PFace.ComputeDerivatives( new UV( 0, 0 ) ); if( CL.Count() == 0 ) return false; XYZ Pt = Trans.Inverse.OfPoint( CL.ToList()[0].GetEndPoint( 0 ) ); IntersectionResult Res = null; bool outval = PFace.IsInside( new UV( Pt.X, Pt.Y ), out Res ); return outval; }
I added the latter to The Building Coder samples release 2018.0.134.4 module CmdSlabBoundaryArea.cs L29-L176.
Many thanks to Richard for implementing, testing and sharing this improved solution!