Top of Cabinet Parameter

[jspartz]

Ok, I posted this in the Autodesk discussion forums earlier today and haven't had a response yet. I was wondering if any of you can help me out. Maybe it's just a problem with the software.

I've got a cabinet that I've created. There is a top of cabinet parameter on it, that is set at 7'-0" for the height. If I change family types say from a 24" high cabinet to a 30" high cabinet in the family editor it changes without any problem. If I load the family and insert it on a wall, it inserts at the correct height, but if it is already on the wall in the model and I switch it from a 24" high to a 30" high it pushs the cabinet up rather than down making it actually 7'-6" above the floor, not 7'-0". What's the deal? Does anyone know?

I've attached the family.

[Tom Dorner]

In the Revit millwork fmilies there is a parameter called "Elevation" that is the height above the host level that will over ride your top of cabinet parameter. The "elevation" parameter does not appear to be accesible inside the family, it seems to appear only when the family is loaded into a project.

I'm not sure if this behaviour is from the wall hosted millwork template file, but it might be worth checking into further. Perhaps you can re-build the cabinet family starting off with a generic template then changing to a millwork category. You can also see if your top of cabinet can use the built-in paramter of elevation.

A tip I can give you is to explore the use of a type catelog for millwork families as it allows you to selectively load certain types into your project rather than all types. Makes it easy to create a lot of types quickly.

[eddy.lermytte]

Or do it this way

[jspartz]

Thanks! How did you do that? It looks like you added a reference plane on the floor.

[eddy.lermytte]

Js

Yes ... the added ref. Plane is the key.
The only thing you have to do is:
Reposition the "Top Of Cabinet " dimension string " to the added Reference Plane > lock that Ref. Plane to the Floor Line using the Align Tool > relabel.
That's all.

I second Tom's suggestion about exploring Type Catalogs ... it's exactly the type of Rfa for it.

[jspartz]

Ok, I'll put that reference into the rest of my upper cabinets. I don't know anything about type catalogs yet. I've only been creating families for 2 days now. Do you have an example family with it's type catalog file I could take a look at? I'm strictly a visual learner.

[Tom Dorner]

Attached is an example of a type catalog.

Type catalogs require that the family name and the corresponding text file that contain the type information be named the same (except extension) and both the family file and the .txt file must reside in the same sub-directory.

Family name: name.rfa
Type Catalog: name.txt

The Revit help file contains the basic information and you can reverse engineer the attached.

[eddy.lermytte]

You already have example Rfa's since a lot of the canned structural Rfa's have a type catalog file.

Go to File > Load From Library > follow the pad where your library is located > once there choose for example Structural > Columns > Steel > (notice No type catalog available) > pick the one you need (or more) > open > have a look in the project browser you will find them there ready to use and leaving all the other types where they belong .... in the library....

As you can imagine this is helpful to minimize the length of your Type list too.
Explore it and you will see (as Tom mentioned) it's quite easy to create a lot of types quickly.

[jspartz]

Simple enough, but one small problem...

I put in my type names and the type names have inch marks in them. I believe this means something else in the type catalog text file, because it displays the whole string including the measurements in the type field and does not display the inch marks, though everything works fine, the type name is displayed wrong. Is there a symbol I must put before the inch mark to display it as is and not interpret it?

[jspartz]

I got it. There has to be a double quotation wherever there is a quotation mark and then the whole type name in quotation marks. Or you can just switch the txt extension to csv, open it, save it, then switch it back to txt and it does it for you.