When placing a family in Revit, there is something everyone should be away of when it comes to its instance parameters. They can be edited during placement or after. When I say "during placement" I mean you edit the value in the Properties Pallet prior to placing the element in the model, as will be shown more clearly below. If you edit the value after placement, there is no effect on future placements... but, that is not the case when editing values during placement.
Read on to learn more...
This sample window family has an Default Sill Height as a type parameter. Other families just have a 'default' value for any instance parameter. What I am about to show applies to both.
This first window is placed without changing anything. The sill height is 3'-0".
Then...
This next window was placed and then the sill height was changed. The sill height is 3'-6" but the default is still 3'-0".
The next window placed, and the sill height is still 3'-0". As I already said, the default value is intact.
Now, if we start the window command and edit the sill height before placing the window in the model; the sill height is 4'-0" and the default is now also 4'-0".
The next time ANYONE tries to place this window type the default will be 4'-0". For this parameter it is particularly confusing as there is now a contradictory type parameter.
I recently learned there is a way to reset any instance parameter default for a given type. Select it, right-click and then use Create Similar as shown here. This can also be a bit confusing, as I used the window with the 4'-0" sill height to 'create similar' and the result was to create a window with a 3'-0" sill height. But, now the default is reset.
The default is now restored to the original value set in the family...
Changing an instance parameter during placement used to be a much bigger problem as it affected all families using the same shared parameter! For the Electrical Productivity Pack we created and is sold by CTCsoftware, this was a problem as default loads where getting applied incorrectly to other families/types. Below is the warning we added to the starting view to alert all users to this issue.
Fun stuff!
For BIM Chapters updates, follow @DanStine_MN on Twitter or connect on LinkedIn
Read on to learn more...
This sample window family has an Default Sill Height as a type parameter. Other families just have a 'default' value for any instance parameter. What I am about to show applies to both.
This first window is placed without changing anything. The sill height is 3'-0".
Then...
This next window was placed and then the sill height was changed. The sill height is 3'-6" but the default is still 3'-0".
The next window placed, and the sill height is still 3'-0". As I already said, the default value is intact.
Now, if we start the window command and edit the sill height before placing the window in the model; the sill height is 4'-0" and the default is now also 4'-0".
The next time ANYONE tries to place this window type the default will be 4'-0". For this parameter it is particularly confusing as there is now a contradictory type parameter.
I recently learned there is a way to reset any instance parameter default for a given type. Select it, right-click and then use Create Similar as shown here. This can also be a bit confusing, as I used the window with the 4'-0" sill height to 'create similar' and the result was to create a window with a 3'-0" sill height. But, now the default is reset.
The default is now restored to the original value set in the family...
Changing an instance parameter during placement used to be a much bigger problem as it affected all families using the same shared parameter! For the Electrical Productivity Pack we created and is sold by CTCsoftware, this was a problem as default loads where getting applied incorrectly to other families/types. Below is the warning we added to the starting view to alert all users to this issue.
Fun stuff!
For BIM Chapters updates, follow @DanStine_MN on Twitter or connect on LinkedIn