Shaft "X" annotation automation

[damon.sidel]

I'm working on a 69 story tower, so anything I can do to keep things automated in the plans is a big help. We're making good use of groups, even though I'm usually quite wary of them. One thing that continues to be annoying is the "X" annotation in the shafts. Does anybody have a good way to have the X move with the shaft walls?

[cliff collins]

We have run into this as well. One way is simply leaving it out, and placing a Room in all the shafts instead.

[patricks]

Can you align/lock the ends of the X symbolic lines to the corners of your shaft sketch lines? Then you could align/lock the shaft sketch lines to the shaft walls.

[damon.sidel]

Cliff - We'd like to have the "X" graphic, so leaving it out isn't an option for this particular project.
Patricks - I hadn't even known about the shaft symbolic lines until just now! That will work for us. At least you only have to change it once per shaft, not on every floor. It would be nice if it moved with the wall, so I'll try the align/lock idea. Thanks!

[patricks]

Yeah remember that you can align/lock endpoints of lines if you use the Tab key. So using the align tool, first pick will be the shaft sketch line. Then second pick you will tab through until it highlights the endpoint of the symbolic line. Click and then click the padlock. You may have to align/lock each end point to both sketch lines creating the corner. So that would be 8 align/lock operations for a 4-sided shaft.

Then after all that, align/lock the sketch lines to the actual walls.

[damon.sidel]

I'll give it a try! Thanks.

[Alfredo Medina]

Yeah remember that you can align/lock endpoints of lines if you use the Tab key. So using the align tool, first pick will be the shaft sketch line. Then second pick you will tab through until it highlights the endpoint of the symbolic line. Click and then click the padlock. You may have to align/lock each end point to both sketch lines creating the corner. So that would be 8 align/lock operations for a 4-sided shaft.

Then after all that, align/lock the sketch lines to the actual walls.

It would be better to create a generic model family, with symbolic lines for a rectangle, and an "x" inside, controlled by instance length parameters; then, nest this family into another generic model family, and create an array from the front view. In a project, this family could be inserted only once, at the first of the typical floors of a building, and then, one will set the spacing of the array to match the height of typical floors, and the width and length dimensions to match the dimensions of the shaft. A variation of this family could be used to show the 2D representation of an elevator in each floor.

[damon.sidel]

The endpoints of the symbolic lines locked to the walls works very well. I think the nested family option would be more work than necessary in my particular case. Thanks for all the help and suggestions!

[Steve_Stafford]

The symbolic lines of a shaft are designed precisely for this purpose and work quite well if we tell Revit what we want.

A separate family only needs a single "X" in plan and an invisible line vertical for total height. The "X" will show up in all plans that the invisible line crosses the cut plane for. That's how I tackle elevator families. The graphic of the "car" can show up at all floors but the 3d geometry of the car only shows up at a specific floor.

[patricks]

It would be better to create a generic model family, with symbolic lines for a rectangle, and an "x" inside, controlled by instance length parameters; then, nest this family into another generic model family, and create an array from the front view. In a project, this family could be inserted only once, at the first of the typical floors of a building, and then, one will set the spacing of the array to match the height of typical floors, and the width and length dimensions to match the dimensions of the shaft. A variation of this family could be used to show the 2D representation of an elevator in each floor.

That works until you get to floors with different heights. As Steve said, the shaft symbolic lines were designed for this and IMHO would be much easier than nesting and arraying families. If nothing else, it's more stuff that must be "checked" later on down the road and before final prints go out to make sure everything is as it should be.