Curtain Wall Panels Pinned....most of the time

[DaveP]

When you create a new Curtain Wall with the default Revit settings, the Panels all come in UnPinned. If, however, you change the Curtain Panel in the Curtain Wall's Type parameters to anything other than "none", the Panels always come in Pinned.
I assume this was done because you're pretty much always going to want to change the "System Panels" to a specific Type and thus, would not want them pinned.

But I often want to change other Panels, too. Why do I always have to UnPin them first?
Two things brought this up for me. First, we frequently need to change some of the Panels to Spandrel. Second, we're working on a Panel for a Butt-Glazed Joint, so we'll end up with a Left, Center, and Right Panel Type.

What is gained by having the Panels Pinned, and is there any way I can create my own Curtain Wall with the Panels UnPinned as a default?

[aaronrumple]

When you create a new Curtain Wall with the default Revit settings, the Panels all come in UnPinned. If, however, you change the Curtain Panel in the Curtain Wall's Type parameters to anything other than "none", the Panels always come in Pinned.
I assume this was done because you're pretty much always going to want to change the "System Panels" to a specific Type and thus, would not want them pinned.

But I often want to change other Panels, too. Why do I always have to UnPin them first?
Two things brought this up for me. First, we frequently need to change some of the Panels to Spandrel. Second, we're working on a Panel for a Butt-Glazed Joint, so we'll end up with a Left, Center, and Right Panel Type.

What is gained by having the Panels Pinned, and is there any way I can create my own Curtain Wall with the Panels UnPinned as a default?

The pin setting comes from the type. As you noted - if there is no rule set in the types properties, they are unpinned. As soon as you set a type - they are pinned. This way you know which panels are playing by the rules and as you unpin them - which are unique.

Your options are to leave them all with a system panel and then change them to what you want. Or to unpin just those you want to change.

You can also try a little trick. Have a type with no rules. Make your layout using the type that pins everything. They switch to the type with no rules. It will ask you to delete grid lines. Don't. You'll now have a wall with everything unpinned. Mullions, panels and all. However you have lost the rules. There is no going back.