labels in family types

[mes.84998]

I have a roof drain family that I would like to have three different family types (3", 4" and 5"). Is there a way to asign a text label to the family so that I can annotate which size it is on the plan when I insert it? The text would change as I change the family type. My desired text would be 3" RD, 4" RD and 5" RD.

Thanks

[aaronrumple]

Yes. You'll need to look at shared parameters and look at the sample "Refrigerator.rfa" to see how this is done...

[Shaun v Rooyen]

Mes. Here is a very simple example. Achieved without using shared parameters, just a simple generic annotation, placed as a symbol then shared with a parameter added into family types.

[mes.84998]

Zeds,
That is exactly what I was looking for. Thanks for the help. This will work for so many of our families where we want text related to family types.

[mes.84998]

Alright, I get the principal but where do you get the "text label" from?

[aaronrumple]

That's a generic annotation family. And you'll need to make one using the generic annotation template and add in a label. Then load that into the family and place it as a symbol.

[Steve_Stafford]

Fwiw, nested labels in families do not transition well between views of different scales. What looks fine at a scale of 1/8"=1'-0" (1:100) might not work as well for a scale of 1/4"=1'-0" (1:50). The position of the label will appear to "move". Of course some will work better than others as it depends on the family and where the label can be located to look "right".

In some cases it might help to have two such labels assigned to different yes/no parameters. These will let you turn on and off the labels according to view scale, or you can use Coarse,Medium and Fine detail level to control this.

[Randall Temple]

Is there a reason that I can't set parameters to position a label annotation in a family? It seems to take the label annotation as fixed, and attempts to move everything else in relation to it, leading to "overconstrained" errors. Is there a way around this? Very frustrating.

R

[markl.70662]

I overcome most of your problem by creating the annotation and setting Vertical & horizontal alignment to cope with different scale, ie. if I place the annotation to the right and below the object it references I set Vertical alignment to Top and Horizontal alignment to Left. Then I set the 'Keep Text Readable' check box in the Settings>Family category and parameters dialog box. I then use the mirror command to further manipulate the inserted object & label.

Hope it helps...

[Randall Temple]

Thanks, Mark. I'll give that a try. The only problem I foresee is that I am annotating a wall-hosted family (an AC sleeve, based on the window template.) When the wall depth changes, the edge of the object will move over the annotation. If I can make the whole family align to the face of the wall, rather than the center, it would solve everything. Maybe I need to start with a different family type.

Thanks,

R