Help with Nested Generic Annotations

Hello all,

Im new to AUGI recently taken a position at a MEP firm where I will be implementing Revit MEP 2013 into the office.

I have started to make all of the Symbols for Plumbing and I want to nest these into one family with a <family/type> parameter instance so that they all are in one family but have an instance in the properties where you can toggle between the types.

I have all of the item created and i load the families into the main host family.
Than i create a new parameter for "symbols" - discipline is Common > type of parameter is <family Type> -- group is other. this is an instance

Load into the project template and i have the family that shows in the properties (other) and than has a drop down that list all of the symbols but only the host shows every time i try to toggle to another symbol i get nothing. I have done this before with Graphic scale for arch drawings and i do not understand what is wrong with my family. HELP please .

Welcome to the AUGI forums!

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Originally Posted by jbrooks366067

...Load into the project template and i have the family that shows in the properties (other) and than has a drop down that list all of the symbols but only the host shows every time i try to toggle to another symbol i get nothing. I have done this before with Graphic scale for arch drawings and i do not understand what is wrong with my family. HELP please .

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You said "i get nothing" meaning that the symbol vanished or that it simply didn't change? In the case of the latter, the embedded Family may not have been linked to the <family/type> parameter. Open the Family and select the annotation symbol. Under Properties, you'll see "Label" which needs to be set to your parameter.

Note: I'm going to ask a moderator to move this thread to the "Revit MEP Family" forum.

Thanks for your help.

CADastrophe how are you, I have another question for you that has to do with nested symbol that has a label for "fixture type" right, this is than loaded into my overall plumbing symbols family that has all of them with a parameter type of Family type : generic Annotations - this allows for the selection of what symbol i want to show and keeps all the plumbing symbols in one family that i can easily find. The problem im having now is the fixture type family will not allow me to enter the text because it has been associated to the type of parameter.

I'm not absolutely clear on the intended workflow, yet. I understand that you have a single family that contains all of your fixtures, that is controlled by a single <Family Type> Instance Paramter.

And you would like the TEXT paramter "Fixture Type" displayed by a label from an embedded Generic Annotation that is loaded into the host family, right? Do you wish for this parameter to be automatically filled-in based on the fixture that has been chosen through using the <Family Type> parameter?

I have a few questions regarding your overall intentions, as well.

I understand that there may be some convenience in having all of the fixtures loaded into a single 'Master' Family, but have you considerered what impacts this may have on scheduling and even file size? Is there any specific reason that you're using this method? It might even help a little bit if you 'Master' Family was broken up into Types, instead of controlled by an Instance Parameter. That way, you could enter a value for 'Fixture Type' for each Family with ease.

I'm not trying to critisize or anything, just trying to understand the motive behind this.

CADastrophe

made this master family for the generic annotations so that they would be easily controlled while placing a single family with a toggle to show each. It was just a thought to have each discipline have one master generic annotation family that would be able to toggle between the different choices.

About the "Fixture Type" this is the label in the annotation family named Fixture type. This information would be filled out per fixture and I wanted this to be a instance so that they person (s) doing design could type in what fixture it would be. Not 100% sure I am doing this right at the time. I have recently taken a new job implementing revit at an MEP firm and I had been using Revit 2012 Architecture for Baggage Handling Systems (Airports) and that company was a niche that really allowed us to make our own conveyor families. I really have not had to use or worry about scheduling & reporting and Symbols and things since I was in school 4 years ago.

OK. So, you'll need a single, dedicated Generic Annotation Family to host the Label. If you nest a Label within another nested Family, I don't think it'll come through on the Project.

Now, if you want to control the contents of the Label per Instance in the Project, you'll just have to create a 'Relay' parameter to get that inputted value from the user to the nested Label. So, in the host family, create an Instance parameter that matches the parameter type that drives the Label, which is likely a Text parameter. Select the nested Family with the Label. If the driving parameter is an Instance, it will be listed in Properties; if it's a Type Parameter, it will be in Type Properties. To the right of that parameter, there is a blank grey button. Click on it and from the following list, choose that 'Relay' Parameter to link the values.