Adding Area Types to Color Scheme Legends

[SCShell]

Hey there,

I got frustrated yesterday when I tried to add new "Area Types" to my Color Legend Plan. Revit comes with about 5 or 6 "Area Types" and I couldn't add any new ones in the color legend editor. Every time I tried to add one, it gave me an "imput error". So, after thinking about, and reading through the forums, I think that I figured out what is going on with color fill legends and the way you add new Areas, Uses, Departments or the like......

When doing these, if you want to have total and flexible control over what gets colored, and how to determine the areas, rooms or fields, you first need to create a "schedule" before doing the color fill legend.

The colored key legend plan and schedule can be for either "room" or "area" based. (You can even do both, as different types of color scheme plans.)
I typically used "Area" base plans. This way, I can use the Area Boundary editor to set up all of my keyed areas which may include several rooms, and it calcs the SF based on where I choose to place the purple edit lines vs using "Rooms". (Rooms have set ways that they calculate areas. And, you can't have them be calculated differently in any one plan.)
However, the advantage to using "Rooms" as a basis, is that you can just duplicate any plan, set it up and you're done. Area based plans have to be set up in the "Rooms and Area" browser section so that you have access ot the Area Boundary editor.

Depending on what you want the color legend to look like, you need to decide on whether you are using rooms or areas to determine your colored plan.

Here is the process:
When you start a new color scheme plan, create a Room or Area schedule. (You won't need to place the schedule on a drawing. It is merely created so that you can create the parameters in the Area or Room Family to be used later.) Then, add new fields in the schedule editor. (ie: Area Use, or Department, or Occupancy Type etc). The fields you create in the schedule, will then appear on your Room or Area Family dialog box when editing the Color Legend. (Make sure to select 'room" or "area" in the color legend editor when setting it up) It is there that you can then edit the new field to include all of the uses or departments which get color keyed.

Kind of a backwards approach; however, it's similar to how you add parameters to a door family by adding fields in the Door Schedule.

Thank you goes out to all of the folks who have posted in the past on this matter in other threads. You all helped point me in the right direction.
I Hope this helps you too.
Steve

[Dimitri Harvalias]

Hi Steve,
Unless I'm not understanding what you are up to you shouldn't need to create the schedule at all.
The parameter(s) can be created outside of the schedule and will appear as available fields when creating your color fill legend. As long as it is assigned to the AREA and/or ROOM objects categories the color fill legend should be able to pick up on it.

[SCShell]

Hey there,
Unfortunately, even if it is an assigned "area" on your plan, the Color Legend editor will not let you add it, not any other new area type.
I even talked to Autodesk support and they could not do it...they said that they would get back to me.
Thanks
Steve

[sami]

Hi Steven,
I tried your method but it seems I still can't create new "Area Types"?

see my other post with this quesiton:
http://forums.augi.com/showthread.ph...05#post1080805

[Dimitri Harvalias]

Sami,
Per your other post, Steve's approach still does not allow for new 'Area types'. As you have discovered, the area types are hard wired into Revit and you can't create new ones or rename the ones that are there.
All Steve is doing is creating a new parameter that can be used instead of the OOTB Area Type parameter.

[sami]

thanks Dimitri ,

ok, so I was able to use this method to create a new parameter which I can schedule, this works fine.
now with this method I'm not going to be using the built in "Area Type," but I can't leave it empty, so what do I put it as? it just seems strange, I'll have another Parameter that says this space is a residential unit, but then my Area Type reads that this is an Office Area!

[cbachman12]

Does anyone know if you can assign a color legend to a plan using the department assignment and have it show the areas assigned to the departments as well without having to create an area plan? This would simplify a lot of steps.

Thanks,

Chris Bachman
OSF Healthcare
Architectural Coordinator.

[Dimitri Harvalias]

Color fills can be applied via area objects or room objects. Add rooms to your plans and you will have a Department parameter that can be used to create your color fill scheme. You can create a room schedule that you can sort based on this parameter as well.

[ceverist]

Here is the process:
When you start a new color scheme plan, create a Room or Area schedule. (You won't need to place the schedule on a drawing. It is merely created so that you can create the parameters in the Area or Room Family to be used later.) Then, add new fields in the schedule editor. (ie: Area Use, or Department, or Occupancy Type etc). The fields you create in the schedule, will then appear on your Room or Area Family dialog box when editing the Color Legend. (Make sure to select 'room" or "area" in the color legend editor when setting it up) It is there that you can then edit the new field to include all of the uses or departments which get color keyed.

Kind of a backwards approach; however, it's similar to how you add parameters to a door family by adding fields in the Door Schedule.

Hi Steve,

Chris Everist here. We met at a dog park after Christmas one day a couple years back. This helps! And yes, this is a kind of backwards approach, but it works!

Chris

[cftreviz0]

FYI...
You can create different "Area Scheme Types", other than the Gross Scheme (Gross SF'age rule, that measures to exterior finish) all created ones' use the "Rentable SF'age Rule" (measures from the interior finish of an exterior wall) when using the automation option when 1st creating the plan.

In 2013, the Architecture TAB -> the drop down arrow for Room & Areas -> select Area & Volume Computations -> then the Area Schemes Tab of the the Dia. Box. Of course, the Computations Tab is located there to utilize those rules in your Room Schedules.