Is it ok to link a linked file?

[formarch.70565]

I have a project with 4 inidvidual town home plans that will be combined in various configurations to make multi-unit buildings. Its my intention to link these files to a central site plan.

I'm thinking about creating the individual units up to a certain plate height and then linking them into a central "building file" and then creating the roof structure for that building because all the various configurations will have different roofs.

However, when the "building file" was imported into the central siteplan the linked files that make up the building do not appear - only the model elements created in the building file are visible. Is there a setting that will allow a building made up of linked files to show all the files?

Is linking the best way to create buildings made of differnet repeating plans or is there a better way because its appears that linked files aren't really interactive. Allthough I don't undertand it I've seen some post mentioning grouping and I'm wondering if this is a better way to go.

Any advise would be great.

Mike

[clog boy]

Linked files are just what they are - linked files. The only way I found to link linked files into a new file, is to link to the original files again.
Groups are great for repetition within one file. They can be exported and imported (consequentially you should export and import them again when you change them).

You'd be best off (in my opinion) if you create each building in a separate file, and link them to your site plan. If buildings share great similarities it might be great to use groups, or finish one building and then 'save as' to create the other (if they're only 10 to 20% different).

Word to the wise: groups can cause great frustration. And I'm not even joking.

[formarch.70565]

Thank you for the foresight but just so I'm clear - are you saying that I'll probably have less headaches if I create the whole building in one file even though it is made up of 3 or 4 units and then linking that single file to my site plan?

One reason I was thinking about linking or grouping is because the buildings are single story over a sloping site which means each unit within building has a different finish floor height (1 to 3 feet) and I was hoping to just move finished unit plans up and down as the site requires. But I really haven't done anything like this before so I appreciate your insight.

[clog boy]

Linking files and discerning building-specific and project-specific information can be a pain. My rule of thumb is to never draw the same building twice, keep the number of files to a minimum, and save-as to create similar buildings where possible (but only when whatever they have in common is COMPLETELY finished to prevent making the same change twice over and over again - been there, done that, went crazy).

Bottom line: keep your workload to a minimum, and be smart.

[formarch.70565]

Thanks Bram

[Scott D Davis]

New to Revit 2008 is the ability to have Nested Links....links inside of links, inside of links.....

One file with other links inside of it can now be linked into another project, and all the links will come through, depending on if they are set to Overlay or Attach in the Manage Links dialog box.