A couple questions re: text in families.

[Joef]

I would like to be able to create a family ( a line with an arrow for instance) with text attached to it that I can change once I place the family in a drawing. I would like to be able to adjust this arrow. I do not need to be able to schedule this text. I also want to place this in a plan view and not have it associated with any object.

I would also like to place text in a box, be able to change the text and have the box adjust to suit.

Can someone either describe these procedures or point me to a tutorial. Thanks in advance.

Joe

[PeterJ]

The first sounds like a keynote which you can schedule but don't have to. The default is to place with no leader, but you can define the arrow type at family level so it will always have a filled dot or a 30degree arrow etc. Steve Stafford has posted a null leader here, you could search on that and make use of it or consider using it as the base for your text family, in which case you could have an instance based text element.

The text box with automated height or width isn't avaliable yet as I understand it but you could look at a 'number of lines' parameter multiplying out your font height so two lines equals 10 mm and so on.

[Joef]

I'm not sure how you add a keynote to a family (I don't think you can nest it). I want the text to be attached to a graphic element. This takes a minute in AutoCAD, you just add an attribute. What I am looking for is an equivalent procedure in Revit: A graphic element (line circle, whatever) that has text attached that you can change. I want to be able to alter the graphic element with a parameter. I can do the graphic bit and I can do the text part, but having them together would speed things up for me. Thanks,

Joe

[beegee]

Joef, open the existing keynote family ( located in Annotations ) and duplicate it , then change it to your specific requirements.

It sounds as though that may do what you want.

[Joef]

Thanks! I had to change the keynote text to an instance parameter, but now it works as I wish. I'll post the finished product later.

Joe