Corridor Creation via 3D Mass or Adaptive Family Edges

Choose the Source Element

Open the left dropdown (Zone A). AutoBRIDGE scans the document and lists all 3D Masses and Adaptive Family instances. When you select one, the code immediately reads its full geometry, extracts all Line and Arc curve edges, and populates the second combo and the 3D preview canvas.

• The element must be a 3D Mass or an Adaptive Component already placed in the model.
• The element must have at least one Line or Arc edge in its geometry — nurbs or splines are not supported directly.
• Selecting triggers comboBox1_SelectedIndexChanged which repopulates comboBox2 and refreshes pictureBox2.

Select the Curve from the Dropdown or Click in 3D Preview

The second combo lists every Line and Arc edge found in the mass geometry, described as:

• Line: Start(X, Y, Z), End(X, Y, Z) — a straight edge.
• Arc: Center(X, Y, Z), Radius(R) — a curved arc edge.

You can select from this list or click directly on the desired edge in the 3D Preview canvas — the canvas selection syncs to the combo and vice versa. The selected curve highlights in cyan in the preview.

Navigating and Reading the 3D Preview

The canvas draws all curves using a spherical camera projection (azimuth + elevation angles). The XYZ axis triad in the corner orients you. The currently selected curve is drawn in cyan, all others in grey.

Once chainages are entered, three types of markers appear on the selected curve:

• Cyan dots — Start station points (first point of each span)
• Yellow dots — Interval/frequency points (where adaptive instances will be placed)
• Red dots — End station points (last point of each span)

Choose the Cross-Section Family

The combo is populated with all loaded corridor nested families (Revit families already in the project that are designated as corridor cross-sections). Select the family that represents the bridge cross-section shape to be swept — deck slab, box girder, I-beam arrangement, etc.

When a nested family is selected, comboBox4_SelectedIndexChanged triggers pictureBox3_Paint, which reads the family's edge geometry and renders the 2D cross-section preview below, colour-coded by subcategory.

Assign Subcategories to Solid or Void

Every named subcategory found in the nested family's edge data appears in both lists initially. Checking an item in the Solid list automatically removes it from the Void list, and vice versa — they are mutually exclusive. The 2D cross-section preview uses the same colour coding as the lists.

• Solid subcategories — geometry that produces structural material in the corridor (slab, wall, girder faces).
• Void subcategories — geometry that cuts or removes material (internal hollow sections, openings).

If no subcategories are checked in either list, AutoBRIDGE will ask for confirmation before running — it will still generate the corridor but without solid/void distinction.

Enter Span Data — Station, Interval & Frequency

Each row defines one corridor span. Enter values in the editable columns; Span Length is calculated automatically. The active editable columns depend on the Corridor Settings type:

Validation, Processing & Report

Before processing, AutoBRIDGE checks:

• Mass / Adaptive selected (comboBox1) — error if nothing is selected.
• Curve selected (comboBox2) — error if no curve edge is chosen.
• Nested family selected (comboBox4) — error if no family is chosen.
• At least one chainage row — error if the grid is empty.
• Station range check — rows where Start or End station falls outside the total curve length are flagged. A dialog asks whether to skip those rows or abort entirely.

For each valid row, AutoBRIDGE calls DoWorkA() which places adaptive cross-section instances at every station along the extracted curve, applying the EJ offset and subcategory solid/void assignments. Rows blink hot-pink during processing, turn blue on success and red on failure.