Design Options Losing Annotation

[mlgatzke]

I was discussing the use of Design Options with someone today and I was showing them how it worked. I've only used Design Options for schematic design previously, but we were investigating the use of Design Options in Construction Documents - the main difference being annotation. Everything went well until I placed annotation and selected a different Option and changed it to Primary. Revit warned us that certain objects would be deleted and all of the annotation (tags and dimensions) was deleted. I went back and verified that all of the objects involved were within the Option being replaced and there wasn't anything referencing an object outside the Option. Everything appeared correct in this respect.

Am I missing something? How can I keep my annotation objects from being deleted when I change the Primary Option?

[Wes Macaulay]

Did you delete the other options? Or just set one of them to be primary?

Tags and dims are view specific; so if one view had some dims in it, and objects in it were the Primary option, then when those objects were no longer the Primary option, the dims and tags (because they're associated with that view) delete because they're no longer relevant.

Does that make sense?

[mlgatzke]

Tags and dims are view specific; so if one view had some dims in it, and objects in it were the Primary option, then when those objects were no longer the Primary option, the dims and tags (because they're associated with that view) delete because they're no longer relevant.

Does that make sense?

I understand what you're saying, but I don't understand how to keep any annotation in a view. Are you telling me that I cannot keep annotation in a Design Option? Are you telling me that I cannot use Design Options for Construction Document Options?

[Steve_Stafford]

Something sounds amiss Mike. You should be able to edit either design option and add data. However you do need to have discrete views set to show each option if you want annotation to stay visible per option. Annotation is view specific after all.

In your schedule however, you can leave it automatic so it will always display whichever option is primary. (works for rooms that are different sizes but the same room at least)

[irwin]

I was discussing the use of Design Options with someone today and I was showing them how it worked. I've only used Design Options for schematic design previously, but we were investigating the use of Design Options in Construction Documents - the main difference being annotation. Everything went well until I placed annotation and selected a different Option and changed it to Primary. Revit warned us that certain objects would be deleted and all of the annotation (tags and dimensions) was deleted. I went back and verified that all of the objects involved were within the Option being replaced and there wasn't anything referencing an object outside the Option. Everything appeared correct in this respect.

Am I missing something? How can I keep my annotation objects from being deleted when I change the Primary Option?

The first thing to understand is that annotation objects are never part of a design option. They are specific to a view. If they reference model objects (as do tags and dimensions) then those objects should be visible in the view. How annotations interact with design options depends on what you are trying to do.

Case 1. There is only one version of the model but you want to play with different schemes for annotating it. In that case, don't use design options. Just make several different views and put different annotation schemes in the different views.

Case 2. There are several versions of the model, and you want to annotate each one. For example, suppose you are considering between option A and option B for part of the model, and you want to annotate each one. In that case, create two views. Set one of them to always show option A and the other to always show option B. Annotate each option in its corresponding view. The Make Primary operation will have no effect on these views and annotations since each view will still show the same option it showed before, regardless of which is primary.

Case 3. There are several versions of the model and you are adding an annotation that should apply to whatever version of the model is primary. For example, suppose you have two versions of the fenestration of a wall, so you add the wall to a design option set. There are now two copies of the wall. Call them WallA and WallB in options A and B. Assume A is primary. While dimensioning in plan view, you add a dimension to WallA. The plan view in question is not set to show any particular option -- you're just dimensioning your walls. Later, you make B primary. You want the dimension to switch so it now refers to WallB. This will happen automatically provided that either WallA and WallB are in the same place or Revit has a way to recognize that they are really different versions of the same wall. It will be able to recognize this if you used Add to Option Set, Duplicated the option, or used Paste Aligned | Same Place. Otherwise, if you created the walls independently in different places then Revit has no way to know that you want the dimension to switch from one to the other. Since it can't find a wall to dimension in the new primary option, the dimension is deleted.

From your description, it sounds like you were looking for case 1 or case 2, but ran into case 3. If you have annotations in an "automatic" view (one that is not set to always show a particular option) and those annotations refer to an element in the primary option, then when you Make Primary, they try to find a new referent in the new primary option. If they can't find a replacement element they are deleted.

[mlgatzke]

Case 2. There are several versions of the model, and you want to annotate each one. For example, suppose you are considering between option A and option B for part of the model, and you want to annotate each one. In that case, create two views. Set one of them to always show option A and the other to always show option B. Annotate each option in its corresponding view. The Make Primary operation will have no effect on these views and annotations since each view will still show the same option it showed before, regardless of which is primary.

From your description, it sounds like you were looking for case 1 or case 2, but ran into case 3.

Irwin, Thank you for your excellent explanation and insight. You are absolutely correct. I was using case 3, but trying to get the results of case 2. Now for what is probably an obvious question: How do I create a view, as you say,"Set to always show option A"? I've looked through the View Property settings and the settings for a Callout view, but cannot find anything regarding this type of view setting.

I'd really love to find out how this is done. Thanks for the help.

[Mr Spot]

In your view properties go to the options tab and change the setting from automatic to the desired option you wish to show.

Cheers.

[Steve_Stafford]

Load the visibility/graphics dialog for your view, then choose the "Display Options" tab, choose from Automatic, and your options in the list.

[mlgatzke]

Thanks. I'll give it a go.