Shared Type Parameter in sheet

[rudolfesterhuyse]

Hi, I want to schedule each drawing's size in my drawing list. I can manage this by creating a shared parameter but for some reason I can only do this as an instance parameter. As soon as I want to make it a type parameter I can no longer select the Sheet catagory when loading it in. The tuytorial I got here on the forum somewhere also only explains project wide and instance shared parameters in title blocks. how do I create this as a type parameter?

[twiceroadsfool]

You dont. Sheets are "Special" according to Revit. Plus, there are no "Sheet Types," to assign Type properties too. There are Sheets, and TitleBlock Types. Then there are print settings.

Unlike (sadly) the AutoCAD Publish/Plot feature, there is no "size" that actually gets assigned to a sheet in Revit. It just has a titleblock that has extents reaching a certain size, and then you print it at that size from the print dialogue.

So basically, its only going to happen as a parameter you type in.

[rudolfesterhuyse]

Thanks, well, I have managed to make a parameter which schedules and does not appear on the sheet itself (a label of which the visibility is switched off) but as an instance parameter it is about worth as much as typing text in an empty colunm. If it was a Type parameter it could become part of the template file and schedule automatically regardless of the actual extents of the sheet (one would type in A1, A2 etc. in the label but once only and as part of the template file this would not have to be repeated once set up.) but the possiblity of making such a parameter does not seem to exist.

It is exactly as you say, one can (sadly) not batch plot a set of pdfs, say the whole job, because unlike in ACAD one cannot save the whole plot setting for a specific sheet.

I thought ok, I'll save sets for each size and schedule the size so that I can keep track of new drawings which need to be added to sets but seems not. I'll have to do it in excel...

[twiceroadsfool]

Im not sure what doing it in Excel is going to do though. You have to input the information either way, might as well keep it in one place.

FWIW i wouldnt want types of sheets. We have types of titleblocks already, managing types of sheets that have types of titleblocks could be a bit cumbersome. BUT, i would love the ability for each sheet to get a "Page setup", and i wouldnt mind if that wa saveable and schedulable.

The more im in ACA for support, the more i love the way their Page setup/Multi-page Publish works. Its really great.

[patricks]

I'm not sure I follow why you need this sheet size parameter. You can certainly pick several sheets to plot or print to PDF all at once, and make it come out all as one PDF file. You can also save various sheet print sets in the Print dialog box.

Are you wanting something that will automatically pick the correct printer sheet size when printing a certain size title block or something? What we really need (and what others have asked for) is a drop-down box in the Print dialog box to chose different saved print settings. When you click the Settings button, you're taken to another dialog with the print settings and a drop-down box at the top for various saved versions of settings. If that drop-down were also available on the initial Print dialog box, it would save alot of time and clicks. You could just set up all your different sheet size settings in the template and save them. I have already done this, but I still have to click the Settings button in order to get to the drop-down box and pick the saved settings that I want.

[twiceroadsfool]

Patrick, do you use AutoCAD at all currently? I think what the OP is after is similar to their Publish feature. Since we have "Print settings" and not "Page setups," it doesnt work the same, but what they can do is this:

(Drawing): (Page setup)
Layout1: 36x48 CD
Layout2: 24X36 Design
Layout3: 36x48 CD
Layout4: 36x48 CD
Layout5: 11x17 schedule.

Then when they go to publish, each sheet "knows" what size to use, and it makes a corresponding plot. Whereas we would have to plot seperately for the different sizes, since its an instance setting of each plot session.

Even cooler is that they can do that across multiple files, as long as the Lage setups have all been declared during setup. It makes plotting in ACA freakin awesome.

[rudolfesterhuyse]

Patrick, do you use AutoCAD at all currently? I think what the OP is after is similar to their Publish feature. Since we have "Print settings" and not "Page setups," it doesnt work the same, but what they can do is this:

(Drawing): (Page setup)
Layout1: 36x48 CD
Layout2: 24X36 Design
Layout3: 36x48 CD
Layout4: 36x48 CD
Layout5: 11x17 schedule.

Then when they go to publish, each sheet "knows" what size to use, and it makes a corresponding plot. Whereas we would have to plot seperately for the different sizes, since its an instance setting of each plot session.

Even cooler is that they can do that across multiple files, as long as the Lage setups have all been declared during setup. It makes plotting in ACA freakin awesome.

Exactly: What I really want is a way to save the whole plot setting for a layout so that you can with the the touch of a button print/ publish the whole job or parts of a job by selecting sheets without concerning yourself whether this sheet is A1 landscape and that one A4 portrait, which is what you can do with ACAD. One would think this would be fairly staight forward in Revit because all your sheets are already in one file.

I only wanted to schedule the sheet size because this was not possible in the first place. I thought if I schedule the sheet size I could create saved sets of selected sheets, but I'd have to control when new sheets are created that is not yet included in the set, for which I'd use an additional (non-parametric) set assosiation column in the schedule.

What would also be great is if you can the build in a default plot setting for a titleblock family so that whenever you create a sheet the correct plot setting is already automatically assigned to the sheet.

Printing to one pdf file is certainly useful as well but less so when the pdf then becomes to big to email. And you can still only combine sheets of the same size.

[Munkholm]

It is exactly as you say, one can (sadly) not batch plot a set of pdfs, say the whole job, because unlike in ACAD one cannot save the whole plot setting for a specific sheet.


As always, there´s a "workaround" that will work for this situation - I´ve described the steps in this blog post (http://revit-nightmares.blogspot.com/2009/10/quick-printing-of-all-sheets-in-project.html)

[Scott Womack]

You can effectively save the "plot settings". Every sheet in Revit is a 1 to 1 sheet size. If you plot multiple sheets, you can save this selection of sheets to its own name via the plot dialog box. You can also preset the plotter settings, and save those to a plotter "name". Between the two, you get what you need.

As for scheduling the sheet size, I still don't understand what advantage this provides.

As for printing a series of sheets to PDF, this is at least in part a part of whatever PDF driver your firm is using to generate the PDFs.

[Munkholm]

Scott.

There´s a few good reasons to schedule sheet sizes... (that I can think of)

#1. The client pay for the prints, cost is depending on sheet size and count - therefore it´s handy to have the sheet size on the drawing list - it makes billing a lot easier.

#2. It´s easier to set up sheet Sets (Printing dialog), grouped by sheet Size, if we could get that information into a schedule, and sort by the sheest size.

Forget #2, if you´re doing as described in my blog post, as mentioned earlier.

Whishlist items:
#1 - Make paramters for sheet size, available in schedules, labels etc.)
#2 - A "use sheet size" in the print dialog. (as with the DWF export options)

[twiceroadsfool]

I dont know about SCHEDULING sheet size, per se, i could do without that one. But the ability to save Page Setup instead of Plot instance Print settings? That would be huge. Imagine stealing the entire Publish command from ACA, and not having to go IN to other Revit files to plot out sheets (Because the SHEET is set to print).

Or- as mentioned- to plot out EVERYTHING without the workaround (that is very much appreciated) from Munkholm. Its not that its NECESSARY, its one of those small things that seems like minutia that would make working in Revit so much better. :)

[Scott Womack]

#1. The client pay for the prints, cost is depending on sheet size and count - therefore it´s handy to have the sheet size on the drawing list - it makes billing a lot easier.

#2 - A "use sheet size" in the print dialog. (as with the DWF export options)

I can't find a real argument against what you've said. We typically only have one major sheet size in a project, with the possibility of some copier sized sheets for supplemental drawings for RFI's and addendums during the bidding process. Due to that, EVERY sheet on my coversheet would have the same sheet size on it. We do NOR schedule the supplemental drawings on our cover sheets.

As to the sheet size, it is saved in the printer setups. So I have printer setups for full size, 1/2 size, copier sizes, etc.

[twiceroadsfool]

We save the print settings as well, Scott.

But consider this: We will oftentimes have the entire set of ConDocs at 30x42, have "Design boards" at 24x36, have design sheets for email/quick print on 11x17, etc.

Then, on the QC side, we have 8.5x11's set up with Revit schedules for what content/system families are used in the project, for management.

A lot of times at milestones we want to "fire it all out" to the printer, and we cant do it the way we can in ACA,

[Munkholm]

We save the print settings as well, Scott.

But consider this: We will oftentimes have the entire set of ConDocs at 30x42, have "Design boards" at 24x36, have design sheets for email/quick print on 11x17, etc.

Then, on the QC side, we have 8.5x11's set up with Revit schedules for what content/system families are used in the project, for management.

A lot of times at milestones we want to "fire it all out" to the printer, and we cant do it the way we can in ACA,

Right on Aaron.

Here in Denmark, we have tradition for creating one sheet pr view, and just select a papersize that fits the view and it´s scale - Meaning that we often have 20+ valid paper/sheet sizes in use... so "firing it all out" to the printer, quickly becomes a nightmare without the "workaround"
BUT The "RTV Drawing Manager 2010", from RevitTV.com (http://revitdrawingmanager.com) have this feature. So it´s actually just a matter of paying $195.00 per seat instead :screwy:

Not really, when aquiring a $10600 "state of the art" BIM Software, which sells on words like "Bidirectional Associativity - A change anywhere is a change everywhere. In Autodesk Revit Architecture, all model information is stored in a single, coordinated database." I´m sure most people take for granted, that it won´t be neccecary to aquire $195 add-ons to compute simple everyday tasks like this.

[twiceroadsfool]

I was with you right up until the Autodesk bashing started. Your italicized marketing quote is- in fact- true. Its not *necessary* to buy add ons to complete tasks unless you demand that you do them a certain way. I say it would be more CONVENIENT, but its certainly never cost me more than a few minutes. No need to bash. Constructive criticism doesnt have to have a negative slant.

[graphite]

I recently came across a similar problem in which I needed to add a type parameter to the sheet in order to allow flexibility when entering different contract numbers. My solution right or wrong was to add a shared parameter and select it as an INSTANCE NOT TYPE, also categorize it under project information. It will show up on your sheets in the embedded label as well as display in the project information as a TYPE parameter. Allowing you to make a change in one place on your sheet and propogating throughout.

Strange that you have to trick revit to use a type parameter by making it an instance.