2025 - Room Finishes - New Feature Video

[JuanP]

Take a versatile approach to your projects with the ability to select multiple walls and apply surface finishes in a single operation. Then manage, annotate, and create reports with customizable project finishes and data visualization to help you streamline reporting, leaving you the time to focus on customizing your space. (325)

 

 

 

[Samuel Derenboim]

@JuanP

 

Awesome Feature!!!. One of the hardships I have been having with wall finishes isn't just the finish schedule, but specifying textures to actual walls so that the finishes would be reflected a walk through, or rendering. So far I have been creating surfaces and applying records to geometry in order to simulate something similar to this. Will there be any improvements to wall styles to apply finishes to the same type of material? (i.e. paint over gypsum board, but different color paint in different rooms, or similar conditions)

[Sky]

I wish this would also apply the finish to walls so you don't have to do everything twice (apply to space object and apply to wall).

[zoomer]

2 hours ago, Sky said:

I wish this would also apply the finish to walls

 

 

I also always expected this as a way to control the 3D Model, also for Visualization purposes.
(Since years I propagate that we need to separate structural from finishing components in PIOs

to not die in multitudes of Wall and Slab Styles. E.g. for a structural part of a Wall that runs

through external Wall to internal Wall environments and gets different finishes for different

touching rooms and such)

 

If I got that right the new feature is just a a Tool for Documentation and maybe Calculations (?)

[taoist]

Is this all just documentation?

That is what I understand from the video.

 

Need to be able to assign real world materials to the rooms

and have that report.

In other words, baseboard, window and door trim, chair rail (if any), crown moulding (if any),

carpet, vinyl, tile, hardwood, etc.. all show in 3D, and report.

Am I missing something here?

[rDesign]

1 hour ago, taoist said:

Need to be able to assign real world materials to the rooms

and have that report.

In other words, baseboard, window and door trim, chair rail (if any), crown moulding (if any),

carpet, vinyl, tile, hardwood, etc.. all show in 3D, and report.

 

I had the same reaction to the video -- it looks like you manually assign a percentage of coverage for each wall finish. Which is not very useful for reporting, as it is not calculating the actual wall coverage take-offs. 

[Samuel Derenboim]

@JuanPNot my intention to hijack new features! I'm sure it'll be great!

 

@rDesign I think the space function will cover the takeoffs, and the tagging of the walls seems pretty neat. The only thing it won't be able to do is translate that to a live view of the finishes. If only a material feature to wall finishes (as it is incorporated in wall styles to deviate from the style to lock on to other levels in a story) can be incorporated into walls. If that will be the case, using the GetSpaceNameForObj and GetSpaceNumberForObj could be useful in discerning the finishes of the wall types in them. I've used the hacked method of extracting polygons from the layers and using getspacenameofobj to isolate the object records in that space, not limited to finsihes. It's very useful for code implementation, lighting fixtures, switches, floor and ceiling finishes etc. )

 

But it can be like a shotgun sometimes. Still, i can't complain, major time saver.

[Tom W.]

37 minutes ago, Samuel Derenboim said:

I think the space function will cover the takeoffs,

 

How would you extract wall finish surface area from a Space? I can see that you could calculate the total wall area for a Space by multiplying the perimeter by the height but I don't see a way to separate out the individual wall segments if there are different finishes on each. And I can't see any way to report on the Coverage % but perhaps both these things are to come.

 

42 minutes ago, Samuel Derenboim said:

I've used the hacked method of extracting polygons from the layers and using getspacenameofobj to isolate the object records in that space, not limited to finsihes. It's very useful for code implementation, lighting fixtures, switches, floor and ceiling finishes etc. )

 

Can you explain a bit more what you do here + what the results are...? 

 

17 hours ago, rDesign said:

I had the same reaction to the video -- it looks like you manually assign a percentage of coverage for each wall finish. Which is not very useful for reporting, as it is not calculating the actual wall coverage take-offs. 

 

Perhaps @Samuel Derenboim can shed some light on this but as far as I can see I don't think you'd look to use Room Finishes to report quantities. It's more to generate a room-by-room schedule of finishes. Materials/Components are the way to go for reporting material/product quantities but you can't unfortunately generate room finish schedules from Materials because Spaces + Walls/Slabs/Roofs can't 'talk' to each other. There has been discussion elsewhere about this: somehow being able to link a Wall Component to the Space it adjoins + return that info in a report. I don't know whether Samuel is saying above he's found a clever way of achieving this... Hope so!

[Samuel Derenboim]

In terms of getting GetSpaceNameForObj and GetSpaceNumberForObj you need to extract geometry and apply a material to the geometry (at least for walls). For this i use the face extract tool in the 3d modeling toolbox. Then i can use those functions to get the materials of every polygon / nurbs object in that space. I.e. Isolate the polygons by space using the functions above - and then extract the materials of those objects in them. Those nurbs and polygon objects already have geometry, dimensions, etc... when you extract it. just so long as it has a record

 

I also have a design layer for ceilings, FF&E, Floor plan. So limiting it to those layers makes it even easier.

 

teeeechnically, you can get a little creative by extracting the component number when getting walls using the getspacenameforobj function. However, if space 1 and space 2 are both adjacent to wall 1, space 1 and space 2 will not know which side they're touching. But of the object is entirely in the space, you can do wonders when extracting information from them.

 

First step though is to get the brilliant programmers from VW to allow materials to change in wall styles on an individual basis (a bit like setting the height parameters that deviate from the original levels they're assigned to in the wall style) in order to do this. THEN maybe integrate it to the space finishes function they implemented into this version of VW.

 

Also the new specification tool, LIFE SAVER!

[Tom W.]

10 minutes ago, Samuel Derenboim said:

In terms of getting GetSpaceNameForObj and GetSpaceNumberForObj you need to extract geometry and apply a material to the geometry (at least for walls). For this i use the face extract tool in the 3d modeling toolbox. Then i can use those functions to get the materials of every polygon / nurbs object in that space. I.e. Isolate the polygons by space using the functions above - and then extract the materials of those objects in them. Those nurbs and polygon objects already have geometry, dimensions, etc... when you extract it. just so long as it has a record

 

Ah ok. Thanks. I am wondering whether this is less work than assigning the finish Materials to the Wall Components (in order to report quantities) then adding them as Room Finishes as a separate operation in order to generate finish schedules...?

 

I'm presumably the NURBS/Polys are purely for reporting purposes + get turned off in VPs?

[Samuel Derenboim]

yea, unless you need to do elevations to tag them and visualize the colors of the walls, or finishes. It is intended for both callouts and walkthroughs. Sometimes you will do a walk through and say - hey, that wall color is wrong...then you assign a different paint color material on the fly. you do that, all schedules change, and you save the office from making a mistake. lol

 

Since you cannot assign unique materials to 1 wall style (at least not that i know of now) it doesnt really matter. The polygons and nurbs extraction technique are for strictly finishes. The materials in a wall i.e. gyp bd, sheathing, plaster, etc... would be noted for construction, sound attenuation, r value and / or fire rating characteristics (maybe other elements like weight could be useful, just haven't implemented that yet either). I just downloaded VW 2025, so i'm still exploring the finishing options. hopefully i can get back with some info later 😉

[Samuel Derenboim]

So apparently it does extract surface info from the space which is great! The only issue is that I don't know yet how to get the information to be accurate to the inside of the walls. See screenshot below

 

[Tom W.]

7 minutes ago, Samuel Derenboim said:

So apparently it does extract surface info from the space which is great! The only issue is that I don't know yet how to get the information to be accurate to the inside of the walls. See screenshot below

 

 

Can you post a file or a screenshot of the tag formulas? Thanks!

[Kevin Shertz]

Look for the Space_Finish record. That is what contains the finish information for each surface finish. Hope this helps.

[Samuel Derenboim]

@Tom W.

 

This is the function in the tag. VW did an awesome job allowing for worksheet formulas to be used in tags. So i tinkered, this is the surface area function for the wall.

First tag the walls.

 

 

 

Make sure to check the button

 

 

Then go into the tag layout - this is for the surface area...

 

 

And finally you should get this. The areas look correct now. dimension of the space is 14'5xx17'1x9'

 

 

also, pleaaaase tag subparts work with walls!!!! Awesome addition!

Edited September 11 by Samuel Derenboim

[Tom W.]

5 minutes ago, Kevin Shertz said:

Look for the Space_Finish record. That is what contains the finish information for each surface. Hope this helps.

 

I take it all back! I was looking at the Space Record...

 

How is 'AreaOfOpenings' calculated? What is an opening in a Space?

[Tom W.]

1 minute ago, Samuel Derenboim said:

@Tom W.

 

This is the function in the tag. VW did an awesome job allowing for worksheet formulas to be used in tags. So i tinkered, this is the surface area function for the wall.

First tag the walls.

 

 

 

Make sure to check the button

 

 

Then go into the tag layout - this is for the surface area...

 

also, pleaaaase tag subparts work with walls!!!! Awesome addition!

 

Yep found it thank you!

 

[Tom W.]

@Kevin Shertz have I been totally blind when it comes to Coverage % too or is this to follow?

[Kevin Shertz]

6 minutes ago, Tom W. said:

 

How is 'AreaOfOpenings' calculated? What is an opening in a Space?

 

Openings are the doors and windows on that face of the adjacent wall. I am not a software engineer so I am not of any more technical help on how it was accomplished, sorry. 🙂

 

3 minutes ago, Tom W. said:

@Kevin Shertz have I been totally blind when it comes to Coverage % too or is this to follow?

 

='Space_Finish'.'FinishCoverage'

 

[Tom W.]

1 minute ago, Kevin Shertz said:

 

Openings are the doors and windows on that face of the adjacent wall. I am not a programmer so I am not of any more technical help on how it was accomplished. 🙂

 

 

='Space_Finish'.'FinishCoverage'

 

 

Amazing thank you!

[Samuel Derenboim]

HAAALLLELLUYAHHHH!!!!!!!! AHEM.....VW Team, very welcome and very AWAITED addition !!!!

 

Edited September 11 by Samuel Derenboim

[Tom W.]

Just now, Samuel Derenboim said:

HAAALLLELLUYAHHHH!!!!!!!!

 

 

Absolutely! Subpart mode is a MASSIVE deal. Data Tags just get better + better each year. Really impressive work.

[Kevin Shertz]

Be sure to check out some of the data tag definitions shipping with 2025 U0:

 

[Matt Overton]

On 9/11/2024 at 6:03 AM, zoomer said:

 

 

I also always expected this as a way to control the 3D Model, also for Visualization purposes.
(Since years I propagate that we need to separate structural from finishing components in PIOs

to not die in multitudes of Wall and Slab Styles. E.g. for a structural part of a Wall that runs

through external Wall to internal Wall environments and gets different finishes for different

touching rooms and such)

 

If I got that right the new feature is just a a Tool for Documentation and maybe Calculations (?)

Without removing the coordination issue of having to model/specify twice then can we call it what it is and say this just isn’t a BIM feature. Even if useful. it fails the only test of BIM.