families; symbols, detail level

[rdooley944157]

Can someone please explain to me how to make custom families that change their appearance depending on the drawing Detail Level? What I need is to make custom 3D families, specifically electrical devices, that can show up as symbols. For example, you model a 3D light switch and it is essentially a small box in a wall in the model and in plan view; but if you change the detail level it turns to the '$' symbol. I would also like to be able to edit the existing receptacle families so that I can hatch the symbol in different ways in order to represent different types of outlets, say regular outlet vs. GFI vs. ceiling mounted, etc. I need to be able to do this for a variety of components as we have standard symbols we want to use/show in our plans, but we also want the 3D components for the sake of the model and scheduling.

Thank you for the help.

[CADastrophe]

If you select one or more elements in the Family Editor, you can set the Visibility per Detail Level for the selected element(s) by going to Visibility/Graphics Overrides listed under Properties. (See attached image.) The elements themselves cannot changed based on Detail Level, but different elements can be displayed. For instance, Model Lines may be set to appear at Coarse and Medium, while the extrusions appear only at Fine.

[BenSammis]

For receptacles and light switches, you can also nest annotation symbol families in the 3D family and control their visibility as above instead of using model lines. You can't do that with Light Fixtures or Electrical Equipment though. Because Autodesk hates us.

[rdooley944157]

Thanks this has helped; I will dig deeper and let you know if I have any other issues. Thanks.