Smart Trim

Smart Trim UI

Overview

The Smart Trim tool is a 3-in-1 architectural detailing engine. Whether you need to run baseboards (skirtings) along a floor, chair-rails across a wall, or crown molding (cornices) around a ceiling, this tool automates the entire process.

Instead of manually drafting sweep paths segment-by-segment, Smart Trim intelligently traces room boundaries or wall faces, automatically navigating around doors and architectural columns. Furthermore, it acts as a robust BIM data manager, auto-calculating exact trim lengths and injecting Room Data into every piece of trim for instant scheduling.

Interface Breakdown

1. Profile & Level Setup

Trim Profile: Select any standard 2D Profile Family currently loaded in your project.
- Edit Family Button: A quick-access shortcut next to the dropdown that instantly opens the selected 2D profile in the Revit Family Editor so you can tweak its dimensions on the fly.
Base Level: Define the host level for the trim.

2. Geometry & Offsets

Height Offset: Shift the trim vertically from the Base Level. (e.g., set to 0 for skirting, 900 for chair-rails, or 2700 for cornices).
Align Top: By default, the bottom of your profile aligns to the height offset. Check this box to align the top of the profile instead—this is essential for cornices, allowing you to align the top of the molding perfectly with the ceiling height without doing math.
Wall Offset: Push the trim away from (or into) the wall face.
Trim Cutback: Specify a distance to hold the trim back from the edges of doors or the ends of walls.

3. Advanced Detailing

Corner Radius: Automatically round off sharp internal or external corners by applying a specific radius to the sweep path.
Enable Wall Returns: If you have applied a “Wall Offset” (pushing the trim away from the wall), checking this box will automatically generate 90-degree end-caps that route the trim back into the wall face at terminations.
Wrap Wall Openings: Forces the trim to continue and wrap inside architectural archways or wall openings.
Wrap Columns: Automatically detects architectural or structural columns intersecting the wall/room boundary and wraps the trim seamlessly around them.

4. BIM Parameter Mapping & Materials

A dedicated dashboard to attach data directly to your newly created trim for scheduling.

Material Selection: Choose a specific material to apply to the trim geometry. Use the shortcut button next to the dropdown to instantly open Revit’s native Material Browser.
Standard Parameters: Quickly assign values to the native Comments, Mark, Description, and Keynote fields.
Custom Parameters: Build a matrix of custom data (e.g., “Manufacturer”, “Finish Type”). If a custom parameter does not exist in the project, the tool automatically creates it as a Shared Parameter.
Auto-Calculated Data: Hidden Feature! The tool automatically calculates the exact sweep Length of the generated trim and writes the host Room Name and Room Number into the element properties.

5. Action Bar & Placement Modes

Remove Existing: Check this box to automatically delete any older Smart Trims in the selected room/face before generating the new ones, preventing duplicate clashes.
Room Mode vs. Face Mode: * Leave Face Mode unchecked to click a Room and instantly trim the entire perimeter.
- Check Face Mode to click individual walls, parts, or columns for precise, isolated detailing.

💡 Tips

2D & 3D View Compatibility: You do not have to be in a flat floor plan to use this tool! You can run Smart Trim directly in a 3D view, making it incredibly easy to visualize and select specific walls or rooms for detailing.
2D to 3D Auto-Conversion: You do not need to build complex 3D sweep families! The tool takes your simple 2D Profile Family, automatically generates a parametric 3D Line-Based Generic Model in the background, and sweeps it perfectly.
Intelligent Door Detection: In Room Mode, the tool mathematically detects where doors intersect the walls. It automatically breaks the sweep path, stopping precisely at the door frames (and applying your defined Cutback distance).
Future-Proof Scheduling: Because the tool automatically injects Length, Material, Room Name, and Room Number into every piece of trim, generating an accurate Bill of Quantities or Trim Schedule takes seconds.
Revit Sweep Limitations: If a room has extremely small wall segments (e.g., micro-jogs in plaster or tiny doorway returns), Revit’s native geometry engine may occasionally refuse to sweep the 3D geometry along that specific micro-segment. If this happens, the tool will still generate the rest of the room’s trim normally, leaving only the problematic micro-segment for manual review.