shared parameters from consultants

[MikeJarosz]

I am about to embark on the most comprehensive Revit project I've attempted yet, and that comparison includes the Word Trade Center! Every consultant on the team is contractually required to use Revit. We will be taking it to as-builts and FM, over the next five years. Revit content only. Tracing Acad is not allowed.

Some of the consultants were chosen because of their Revit experience, which is good. But one consultant has a question that I don't have an immediate answer for. This consultant has an established equipment library built with shared parameters. Shared parameters as I understand them are a single file on the server that multiple users "share". They have to be edited from inside of Revit, a plain text editor won't work. I have never had to work with more than one parameter file and I wonder what I am up against.

I anticipate consultant files will be linked into the main architectural model. Will I have to include consultant parameters in my shared parameter file? They might be an extensive list, or even conflict with mine or other consultants. How do I get them in?

Any guidance from the Revit world is much appreciated :confused:

[david_peterson]

I believe you would need all any consultants parameters to you shared file. Everyone should be using the same file. And when it's modified, it need to be shared with the entire team. ie You'll have to add all of their custom parameters. It's the best way. I would strongly suggest against the use of 2.

[sbrown]

You can export the shared parameters from the project file if needed.

Edit: I can't figure out how to do it. I know I've done it in the past.

[USMCBody]

I want to start with I could be wrong..... because I haven't fully figured it all out and all...

so my Hypotheses is, from what I understand is that the Shared Parameters text file is basically just a template or a water mark if you will. If you put a shared parameter in a family it is in the family. I beleive if you share said family to another consultant they will still see the parameter and I believe will still be able to use / schedule the original parameter. What the consultant will not be able to do is to create the exact same parameter. They could clone it if you will by them creating one that looks like the original, but it will not be the original. Basically you would see 2 shared parameters that are called the exact same thing.

I say all of this because I have deleted a shared parameter from my text list before, recreated it because I thought I was an idget, and both 'clone' parameters was in my project. Later I realized why I tried to delete it in the first place, but that is another story.... I can't say for sure if another design team would be able to do all of the above as they didn't 'load' said shared parameter into their project already, but I'm going to be optimistic that they would be able to schedule it as it would be a part of the family I sent them. And I haven't asked other firms what they can see and use that I provided and such....

Again I may be wrong as I don't think I have all the pieces of the puzzle for this one yet, but hopefully this will help out someone in some way as this is just where I stand on it. And I may have found a loop hole that will be fixed at some point..... One never knows these things.....

[dhurtubise]

You can even copy paste SP from one file to another even though it's recommended. Not having all the consultants SP won't be a big deal if you don'y need them. For example if the HVAC guy add a parameter for ductwork insulation the architect wouldn't care.
The hardest part is to keep everyone in sync on basic stuff like localisation parameter for example. Say your building is split in several parts that end up being files. They will all need the same SP and for all discipline.
For that, the easiest way is to assign someone to create them then share the SP file with everyone to make sure that you all use the same GUID. When you get the file you can simply import in yours or keep a single project one and just overwrite it.

[david_peterson]

The main reason for everyone (you and all of your consultants) to have one shared parameter file is to make sure that everyone if adding them correctly and calling them the same thing. You say potato I say "Potato". You'll have poor results. Having more that one person adding and screwing around with them (depending on how much you're interacting with others) will cause issues. We have a project in house where we have 2 Arch firms, 2 Struct firms and 4 MEP firms. We needed to have that level of control so things would work.

[jsteinhauer]

IMHO, you don't need to share your standard Shared Parameters file with the entire project team, only with consultants doing the same work as you. You can create a Project Specific Shared Parameter file for sheet issuance, but those parameters can be shared by copying a sheet schedule in from one file to another. I would not want to remap my parameters in my families just because it doesn't work with someone's file. If I was the consultant, I would be asking the lead for the content I need to do the project. If they don't have it, then they need to decide to create it or let me do it with my stuff.

If anyone looks as a shared parameters file, it has a bunch of information in it. Most of this stuff is straight forward, and easy to read. There is a GUID that looks like this (cd5e3e01-02a4-41a9-ac9f-cf209b6777a1). Revit assigns this to your parameter, so NEVER change this code. Let me repeat that, NEVER CHANGE THIS CODE. Revit doesn't like when two parameters have the same code. It will crash your project every time. What do I mean by this? If for instance, you create a parameter called "Door-Width", and you soon realize that the '-' does allow you to write formulas. So, you go into the shared parameters file and rename the parameter to "Door_Width" and load it into your family it will update. But, you forgot that you already had that parameter in your firm template, Revit will crash when you load that family into your project.

Moral of this example is, don't modify the Shared Parameter file unless you truly know what you're doing. The only thing I have ever changed in this file is the 'Group'. When you export a parameter out from a family to your shared parameter file, it will place it into the Exported Parameter Group, this can then become a dumping ground.

I hope this helps,
Jeff S.

[USMCBody]

I know this is a little different, but you can Manage=>Settings=>Transfer Project Standards. Uncheck all and just check on the Project Parameters. It would seem that is the way the Revit envisioned us sharing parameters anyway.... I know Project Parameters are a little more specific than shared parameters, but hopefully that is really the only parameters you need to share....

[LP Design]

I believe you would need all any consultants parameters to you shared file. Everyone should be using the same file. And when it's modified, it need to be shared with the entire team. ie You'll have to add all of their custom parameters. It's the best way. I would strongly suggest against the use of 2.
I respectfully disagree. Full disclosure, I am firmly in the don't-use-shared-parameters-unless-absolutely-positively-necessary camp. IMHO the only real benefit (and in fact, necessity) to a shared parameter is that it allows a custom annotation tag to read from a custom family. For example, I use these for means of egress calculations in door families. Then I use a custom "egress arrow" tag that reads the info from the door family directly.

In your case, you are talking about a custom equipment library. You don't need a shared parameter file in order to view their custom content. In fact, you don't even need a shared parameter file to TAG their custom content, and I don't know why you would do that in the first place. The shared file is only useful when initially creating the unique family parameters the first time. After that, you could theoretically delete the shared parameters file entirely. The project, family, and annotation tag will still operate because each of those 3 items know that they are reading the exact same info, not because they have a live link to anything.

One instance where you might want to copy shared parameters between firms is for things like sheet organization. That way when you start assembling everyone's revit model together for your print set the sheet list will (in theory) mesh without a fuss. For anything else, I would stay away from copy-pasting at all costs.

-LP

[jsteinhauer]

LP,

I respectfully disagree with your comment about deleting a shared parameter file once the parameter gets loaded into a family or project. When dealing with many families of the same category, it is beneficial to have a standard Shared Parameters File. This way you can have a defined list of parameters for each family type, and have them available to pull in from the same file/location.

A better way to go about this is to modify family templates to have the proper parameters from the get go, but we receive content all the time that users want to include into our projects. Then when they ask why something isn't scheduling we have to explain to them that the parameters in that family are not the same as the ones in the schedule. For the average user, this gets confusing.

Early on in our implementation of Revit, we had a door schedule with four (4) different parameters called Width. Now someone has to go in to those families and remap them to our shared parameters file, so we only have to have one column for width in the schedule. "Copy & Paste" or "Transfer Project Standards" is not available in the family editor the last time I checked.

Cheers,
Jeff S.

[LP Design]

Thanks Jeff, you are right. I was not being clear about deleting the shared file. I simply meant that the shared parameters file is not required for the objects to continue to function. I am NOT suggesting that you delete the shared parameters file after each use. :lol:

[pfaudler]

As most of the users here said, you do not need to share your SP file with other consultants as they will have different BIM objects with their internal requirements for INFORMATION to be attached (via SPs). Yes, It would be NICE to have a common language for parameter naming but I don't think the concensus can ever be achieved unless the team is asked to follow NBIM OR ANZRS OR any other standard that covers parameter naming convention. IMHO, the only time the team will have to share SP file is when everyone is using a common TitleBlock family with some SPs in it. You will have to load those SPs in project files in order to fill values for those SPs in TB family. Another instance where you may need to access consultant's SP file, as someone here said, is when you want to tag elements (and show SP values in tag) modelled in consultant's file. For schedules you don't need SP file.
R