Fake Spot Elevation

[ron.sanpedro]

I need a Spot Elevation symbol, with a fully functioning leader, but that I can point at anything and fill in the text. We have not only complex flat roofs that can't be modeled but must be annotated, but also scuppers and drains and top of curb and top of parapet and other such that need to be annotated. Even "top of" stuff wants to point to the edge of the parapet or curb, and we need it to point at the top surface of the wall, not the face.
So, has anyone found a good way to do this in a single family? At this point I am about to do an elevation symbol and text, then do a Keynote Type with no text. Lame!

Also, with the regular Spot Elevation, is it possible to control which side the text is on? Currently the text is on the same side as the leader, which sometimes requires a large dogleg for some text. We would much prefer the dogleg just be what it needs to be, and the text go off the other side. And then lastly, the current spot elevation doesn't have anyplace to note what is being located, "T.O.Parapet", that kind of thing. But when you open the Spot Elevation - Target Filled family to edit, all it really is is the graphic, there is no text there to move, or add an instance parameter for some extra text.

Thanks for any recommendations.

Gordon

[archjake]

Just create a generic annotation with a label in it. You can place it, add leaders. Duplicate it for another type, or just make your label an instance parameter rather than type. This was the "old school" way to do key notes in revit. Very fast and efficient. If you leave the label a type parameter you can pick off the list of other symbol families when you go to place a note more than once. There is a minor problem however as spell check won't work on it. Good luck.

[ron.sanpedro]

Just create a generic annotation with a label in it. You can place it, add leaders. Duplicate it for another type, or just make your label an instance parameter rather than type. This was the "old school" way to do key notes in revit. Very fast and efficient. If you leave the label a type parameter you can pick off the list of other symbol families when you go to place a note more than once. There is a minor problem however as spell check won't work on it. Good luck.

Thanks Jake,
I will try that. I am curious, what governs where the leader starts? Just the edge of drawn geometry?

<EDIT>
Actually I tried it, and found something interesting. Before I added the labels, the leader came off the symbol where it should. When I added the labels the leader broke, as you can see in the In Project image. However, the symbol is defined properly on the family based on the axes provided, as you can see in the In Family image. I tried deleting just the lower label, and the leader was still broke, but above the correct location, not below.

Any thoughts anyone?

Thanks,
Gordon

[archjake]

I believe its looking for the centroid of the family.

One way around this is to put an invisible vertical line with its mid point at the position where you want the leader to start. In your image this line would be on the left side.

This however will fix it for all leaders coming off the left side. If you tried to put it from the right it wouldn't quite work... You would most likely have to have two family types. Experiment a bit...

[ron.sanpedro]

I believe its looking for the centroid of the family.

One way around this is to put an invisible vertical line with its mid point at the position where you want the leader to start. In your image this line would be on the left side.

This however will fix it for all leaders coming off the left side. If you tried to put it from the right it wouldn't quite work... You would most likely have to have two family types. Experiment a bit...

Thanks Jake. I ended up putting a long invisible line up the middle of bubble. The line extends farther than the text up and down. Then I mirrored the text and did some visibility/type stuff. So now you just change the type from left to right when you flip the arrow. It seems like the leader finds the "edge" left/right automatically, and then depends on the invisible line to find the center vertically. I am still trying to figure out how to make a leader w/ 1/16" dot arrow head the default. Any thoughts there?

And now the next question is, how do I get the REAL Spot Elevation to do the same? I want both the actual elevation, and the note about what is being annotated. But how does one add a label that reads the elevation data? Is there a special name for "live" labels?

Thanks,
Gordon

[efm1102810566]

Has anyone come up with anything on this yet? I am on Revit 2020 (we're a little slow on catching up) and I need to add text to my spot elevations. I have made a dummy tag where I can add text but obviously the tag doesn't report the elevation like a real spot elevation tag. Please help!

[tedg]

Has anyone come up with anything on this yet? I am on Revit 2020 (we're a little slow on catching up) and I need to add text to my spot elevations. I have made a dummy tag where I can add text but obviously the tag doesn't report the elevation like a real spot elevation tag. Please help!

Not knowing what kind of text you need to add to your spot elevations,
You can add prefix and suffix text to the values (instance parameters) which may help.

Just a thought.