Curtain Wall Mullion Tag

[rjcoolpix880]

I want to create a tag that displays the length of the mullion.
I can schedule the length in a schedule so i know that revit has the info i want, I just cant display it! any tips on how to make the tag?

I found many people with the same question on the Autodesk website, but only one had a response, which i didnt understand:

"Mullions are technically a system family. No system family will appear in a multi-catagory schedule. So, Walls, Floors, Roofs, stairs, have to have an independant schedule of that object to get information from them. I believe the only exception to this may be a material take-off schedule."
http://discussion.autodesk.com/forums/thread.jspa?messageID=6143007

any tips?

[wmullett]

For all Revit element, you will find that you can schedule quanties ... sizes but not put this information in a tag.

[rjcoolpix880]

You are saying that it is not possible for me to tag a mullion at all?

[twiceroadsfool]

To the best of my knowledge the only thing you can tag a mullion with is a Material Tag. Even if you could tag a mullion, the Length parameter in it is a system parameter (hardcoded), which you dont have access to. It would have to be a Shared Parameter to tag. And you cant write a formula for a SP, so you cant make it equal the Length. Conversely, a Calculated value can have a formula, but it cant go in a tag.

There is a somewhat kludgy workaround to the CV versus SP issue, but it remains irrelevant for this cause, because you cant use a Tag of any sorts (other than Material) on a Mullion. *IF* a Multi Catagory Tag would work, you would be all set, and could use the workaround with the SP and CV kludge i was referencing. But since you cant, it doesnt help at all.

Its very unfortunate that Revit wont let you Multi-catagory tag ANYTHING in the project.

[twiceroadsfool]

RJ- As an FYI, i sent an email to the Product Support address regarding this, since i think its an important issue. It doesnt mean anything will change, but nothing changes if no one knows. :)

Basically, user wants to tag and report the Length oh a CW Mullion. Obviously, several things go wrong here.

1. Length (of the mullion) is hardcoded system parameter that we do not have tagging access to.
2. Mullions cannot be tagged by any Tag besides a Material Tag.

The first item, we can *almost* workaround, so ill discount it for now. (Shared Parameter LENGTH in schedule, and in tag. Set it in the schedule next to Length (system), and manually copy and paste values. Then have a CV “check” that subtracts system variable from Shared Parameter and reports any value other than 0’-0”. Have a dupe schedule that shows ONLY that column, and have it Filtered to show only values other than 0’-0”… and have it on a sheet as a visual “check.” (Since the only things that show up are the ones that need manually updating).

*Note to you gents at the factory: This is the workaround we are all having to do for things like: Egress / Occupancy schedules, or any event in which we need the power of Calculated values INSIDE tags, or the ability to put formulas in SP’s. It’s a very expensive (time consuming) workaround, but I digress. Lets assume we (i) am okay and content with this workaround, then there is issue number two:

This perplexes me: Why cant I use a Multi Category Tag on a CW Mullion? Discounting the above usage, I can think of TONS of uses for this: My trainees are currently doing two projects, both of which depend on DIFFERENT mullions as part of the design. Not just varying sizes, but various caps (which are actually built as different mullions). Of course…. I cant tag them. They have Identity Data, they have Type Marks, they have Marks, they have Type Comments. They have everything common to most categories in Revit…….. But we cant tag any of it besides Material.

The only dirty workaround to that is a new material for every mullion, which I wont even condone because it’s a manual workaround, at which point ill have the users just use text.

The next thought (seriously) is to wipe out the mullions entirely, to be replaced by Line Based Generic Model families using the Pick tool along the Curtain Grids. Certainly, that’s an asinine way to proceed (and for my current needs we don’t have to bother, the projects aren’t *that* large…) but I can certainly make a good case for it since the only major thing keeping us from full efficiency in this case is the inability to tag a CW mullion.

(To be honest, most of our schedules now are multi-category, with a Filter in place to query a Shared Parameter that is now built in to every piece of content in house, because we need more flexibility than we have with Revit catagories…. But that’s another thread in and of itself…).

But is there a reason we cant tag Mullions? And even if so, someone should make a note that this is pretty brutal. Anyone have any thoughts?