Group Rebar

Group and ungroup reinforcement sets without losing shape, host, or parameters.

General Description

Group Rebar is a split button with two commands for working with reinforcement sets (multiple bars laid out as one Revit element):

• Group Rebar: merges several individual reinforcements into a single set, reusing one of them as the reference for shape and parameters.
• Ungroup Rebar: splits every bar position of a selected set into an independent, individually editable reinforcement, then removes the original set.

Key Features

• Group Rebar offers three grouping modes: Exact position (keeps each bar's real position), Average spacing (builds a uniform array from the average spacing between selected bars), and Free-form (one independent loop per bar, not editable as a parametric set afterward).
• Ungroup Rebar preserves shape, host, hooks, and parameters on every resulting bar.
• Ungroup Rebar works with both shape-driven and free-form reinforcement sets.
• Both commands support selecting multiple bars/sets at once.

Requirements

• Group Rebar (Exact position / Average spacing modes) requires all selected reinforcements to be shape-driven and share the same shape as the reference bar. Free-form mode accepts any bars.
• Group Rebar needs at least two individual reinforcements selected.

Usage Procedure

Group Rebar

1. Open Group Rebar from the Structure panel on the Frata ribbon tab.
2. Follow the prompt: "Select the individual reinforcements to group, then press Finish."
3. Follow the prompt: "Select the reinforcement whose shape and parameters will be kept" — this bar becomes the reference.
4. In the Grouping mode dialog, choose Exact position, Average spacing, or Free-form, then press Execute.

Ungroup Rebar

1. Open Ungroup Rebar from the same split button.
2. Follow the prompt: "Select the sets of reinforcements to ungroup, then press Finish."
3. Each set is replaced by one independent reinforcement per bar position.

Recommendations

• For Group Rebar, pick the bar with the layout you want to keep as the reference — its shape and parameters carry over to the merged set.
• Bar positions hidden by "include first/last bar" are not created as separate bars when ungrouping, since they were never visible in the original set.
• Neither command is reversible from within the tool; use Undo (Ctrl+Z) if you need to revert.

Frequently Asked Questions

I got the message "All selected reinforcements must have the same shape as the reference bar." Why? You're grouping with "Exact position" or "Average spacing" mode, which requires every selected bar to be shape-driven and match the reference bar's shape. Either pick reinforcements with the same shape, or use Free-form mode instead.

What's the difference between "Exact position" and "Average spacing"? Exact position keeps each bar exactly where it already is. Average spacing rebuilds the set as a uniform array using the average distance between the bars you selected — use it when your bars are close to evenly spaced but not exact.

I got the message "This free-form set could not be ungrouped: its bars cannot be rebuilt as standard reinforcements." Why? Some free-form sets use geometry that can't be reconstructed as individual standard reinforcements. No changes are made to the model in that case.

Can I select bars from different hosts to group together? The command doesn't block it at the selection step, but grouping is meant for bars that belong together (e.g. the same logical set split earlier) — grouping unrelated bars from different hosts will likely fail shape/congruence checks or produce a set that doesn't make structural sense.