Detail Component Line Base family

[jrichardson]

Is there a way to lock the first and second pick point of this family to geometry such that if the geometry would change length the length of the line base family would change with it?

thanks,
jamie

[Paul Andersen]

Hey Jamie, just did some quick tests with a simple line based family between two walls and it does work as you suggest. At the time of placement say from midpoint of one wall face to the midpoint of another it automatically produces the locks that you can click to constrain the ends of the family to the wall faces. Moving the wall will flex the family. You can also select the family and drag the blue grips that appear to a wall face and lock the constraint that appears. The align lock method also works. Select align -> choose a wall face -> hover over the end of the line based family and select the line that appears -> lock the constraint. Is this what you are after?

[jrichardson]

Thanks Paul,

I just did a quick test and you are correct, I get the locks when placing this in that manner with just loading the raw template into a project.

If you have a sec please see the attached family and try placing it into a wall footing or isolated footing. I can not get this to lock to all three sides of the footing. Only the bottom if used with the line pick and lock method and both bottom and first pick point when use with pick 1 - pick 2 method.

The idea is to get the reinf placed as 2d detail component and when the footing changes elevation or size it will flex. The reason why I put a Bottom Cover dimension in lieu of using Revit's offset dimension was so it would stay locked to the footing edge. Hopefully I can get this figured out as I have created several other components for placing 2d rebar to our liking.

thanks,
jamie

[Paul Andersen]

Nice family Jamie. One method to place and constrain this family is as follows: Use the Draw method of placement. Assuming that you are placing this in a section / elevation view hover over the lower left corner of the footing. The bottom edge of the footing will probably be pre-highlighted with the endpoint snap locking on the corner. Tab once so that the side of the footing is pre-highlighted with the endpoint snap still locked on the corner and select this point. Move to the lower right hand corner and repeat (I needed to tab twice on the second pick in order to get the side of the footing to pre-highlight). Once you select the second point you should have a lock displaying on both sides and the bottom. Once everything is locked the family flexes with footing size and elevation changes as expected.

If you prefer the Pick Lines method of placement try this: Using the Pick Lines method with the Lock toggle checked in the options bar select the bottom edge of the footing. To constrain the family to the sides use the align tool. Select the side of the footing and hover over the end of your family and select the short line that appears and lock the constraint. You could also drag the round end grips to the sides of the footing making sure that the side of the footing pre-highlights while you release and the lock should display.

These are just 2 of several ways which this family could be placed and constrained to the footing. The key is making sure the family is constrained to the appropriate footing geometry.

I ran into the same scenario that you outlined with only the first pick point and bottom locks displaying automatically after initial placement using the Draw command. You could lock these 2 constraints and use either the align tool or grip drag methods as outlined above to create the 3rd constraint.

[jrichardson]

Thanks for the added boost. It all works as I was hoping. Just needed to do what I keep telling all of my users "use tab key and pay attention to what you are picking in the lower left". This line based family is now my new favorite for placing 2d rebar in section/elevation view. It will certainly make our detailing much more efficient.

And they will change with the model !!!!

jamie