Schedulable family info

[Duncan Lithgow]

Hi all, sorry if this has been addressed before - I didn't know what to search for.

We have some windows in our project which have variable placement and number of openings and solid 'panes' - what are they called? (where irregular interior partition walls meet our horizontal window band). At the moment each combination of a number of openings and solid partitions is a separate family or type. The placement of different panes, but not their number, is an instance parameter. A brief look at the numbers will show that we have an exploding number of window types at the moment... not an ideal situation.

I would rather that each type reflected each geometry rather than each combination of pane types.

I can make the appearance of each window field an instance parameter but then I loose the ability to schedule them. I need a way to schedule so that when a user decides that an extra opening or solid partition is needed that info turns up in my schedule to give the QS people something to count. I have suggested that we use a curtain wall system family and _call_ it a wood / aluminium window - but have been overruled .

[Dimitri Harvalias]

Hi Duncan,
Maybe it's the late hour but I can't seem to wrap my head around what you're describing. Are you referring to some sort of spandrel?
Can you do a quick screen capture to show us the situation in elevation?

[Duncan Lithgow]

Hi there Dimitri, thanks for giving me the name in english (I work in Denmark in Danish) - a spandrel - yes that's what we have in these windows. The idea is that all the walls of the rooms can be moved around as the needs change and we just put in spandrel glass where needed and insulate from the inside.

So, if the number and placement of the spandrels (and the windows openings) is instance based how can we schedule the number of spandrels and openings?

Attached is a plan and elevation of the window type

[Dimitri Harvalias]

Duncan,
You can create the window 'infill panel'' as a separate family and then nest that in the main window. By setting up the windows with a 'family type' parameter you can switch out individual panels and each can be scheduled individually or as a complete unit.

[Duncan Lithgow]

Thanks Dimitri - I just came across nested families two days ago and saw how it could solve this problem. Thanks for confirming my suspicion. I should be able to trim our number of window types significantly.