"Failed to apply family parameters."

[ktracy.194130]

Has anyone ever gotten this message?
It's driving me nuts.

[twiceroadsfool]

Yes. It happens when a parameter has a value that isnt possible. Sometimes if i make a parameter, and assign it to a constraint, it will keep the value "0'-0"" in the Family Types dialogue, even though the constraint had a positive value. Then it will give you that error in the family types dialogue...

[Scott Womack]

The other potential issue here, is that if you type something into the Assembly code field, that is not in the Uniformat.txt file, you'll get that message in 2009. In 2010, it just grays out the "OK" or "Save" button on the Types dialog box in the Family editor.

[ktracy.194130]

Thanks guys. I figured it was something along those lines but with so many parameters across 3 families it's hard to get a handle on what exactly is happening. I've got it working now with a 'shared' door panel family, and a non-shared frame family, hosted into a blank family with standard height/width/thickness parameters. It's working out ok with the type catalog too.

Also- I've noticed somewhat of a performance lag when using doors with nested families versus doors without. Has this ever been an issue for you?

Thanks again.

[twiceroadsfool]

Things move a little bit slower during parameter adjustments when you have Nested Families. If its something you set up with an intentional plan in mind, to make the entire project management more efficient, i wouldnt worry about the minute performance hit.

We have a LOT of nested families (and nested nested nested families) for our Office standards, and it hasnt been an issue yet, except for ONE series of families with a rediculous amount of math involved and many many many formulas.

[ktracy.194130]

Thanks Aaron.
How are you using formulas in families? I am using some basic ones but haven't had to use them at great lengths. Just curious.

[twiceroadsfool]

Many of us use them for a lot of things. Given the current limitation in RAC that we cant make a Curved Line Based Family, anything that is a two-point-pick design that has a radius is done with a line based family that strikes the chord of the arc, and then has parametrics to deal with the arc and geometry itself.

Plus, things like Door panels, window muntins, yes/no/on/off/visibility dependant relationships, etc...

There are tons of uses for formulas. The previous family i mentioned that really hampered performance was a Line based, with a nested family, that had three levels deeper nested families, to make something adjustable the way we needed it configured for the job, and the way the manufacturer assembled it. It was that, or make about 40 variations of the family, which is rediculous. Thats the one and only time i can think of it being an actual productivity hindrance, and it was just that changing the values of the parameters would take about ten minutes. But they were also very old workstations, in a 200 MB model.