Nested Column Family, Level Association Problems

[sarahmgilmore725240]

Hi all,

I've been working on a column family which I've built with a very simple square column base and nested in a much more complex 'tree branch' form, which I initially did in order to be able to radial array the branches around the column. This all works fine, and flexed well in the parent family file, but when loaded into the project, only the column parent family would change levels appropriately and the tree branch child family would remain on level 1. (For your infos: both families are column templates and shared).

I fixed the top level issue by following this method: Revit Rants: Revit 2012 & Nested Structural Columns Workarounds

This solved the problem... as long as the base of the family stayed on Level 1. The problem is that I want these columns on Level 8. When I change the ref levels in the project, the square column part will behave well, and the height of the 'branch' part will indeed be the height of the column part, EXCEPT that it will go to that height from Level 1 - it won't associate its bottom ref level to the project-defined bottom ref level, I guess. Based on the comment there and a comment on the same video on YouTube this is a common problem for people using this method.

Any ideas would be greatly appreciated! It's been 2 days trying to make this stupid column even vaguely parametric.

PS The office uses RevitLite and solutions not involving massing would be greatly appreciated

I've attached both the child and parent families.