Face Based Outlets and Switches

[courtlandtgross]

I would like to make all of my outlet and switch families face based so that they can be dropped into place without needing to align and lock to surfaces. I am having some trouble with the modeling environment because the symbols which need to be seen in plan in the project need to be placed in Front View within the Face Based Family. When I try lo load an annotation symbol in FRONT VIEW I get the message "Can't create this kind of element in this view in the current mode" Because the symbols are only visible in PLAN VIEW, I cannot select them in order to rotate them in Left/Right view. I could potentially nest the symbol into another face based family and load that family into a horizontal surface on the Face Based Outlet or Switch family but it seems like a lot of extra work. Has anybody encountered this problem? If so, how did you resolve it?

[cporter.207875]

I would like to make all of my outlet and switch families face based so that they can be dropped into place without needing to align and lock to surfaces. I am having some trouble with the modeling environment because the symbols which need to be seen in plan in the project need to be placed in Front View within the Face Based Family. When I try lo load an annotation symbol in FRONT VIEW I get the message "Can't create this kind of element in this view in the current mode" Because the symbols are only visible in PLAN VIEW, I cannot select them in order to rotate them in Left/Right view. I could potentially nest the symbol into another face based family and load that family into a horizontal surface on the Face Based Outlet or Switch family but it seems like a lot of extra work. Has anybody encountered this problem? If so, how did you resolve it?

This is the confusing thing about face based families. On the MEP side, all of our receptacles and switches are face based families and I have to scratch my head everytime I create a new one. But it is possible if you forget everything you know. Do this: when building the face based family, place the annotation in plan view, even though it seems wrong. Then load the family into your project and it will work. I've attached a family for your reference.