First element in array not displaying correctly

[mn08jhh]

Morning all,

I'm very much in the early stages of learning to use Revit, after having taken a brief course on the software, so please excuse my ignorance.

I have created a simple box, which has four holes, in pairs, in one face of it. I have created an array to control the number of holes, as they vary with box size. However, for some reason that I can't fathom, the original element in the array cannot be seen unless you are in wireframe mode. The first element is obviously identical to all the other elements, but they all show up.

Images are attached of the box in hidden line mode, and then in wireframe mode. Can anyone help me please? This is quite irritating as I can't see any logic to it!!!

Thanks in advance,

dirtychinchilla

[CoreyDaun]

Can you attach your Family file here?

[mn08jhh]

Certainly! I hope I've attached the correct thing.

[mn08jhh]

I've actually manage to solve it by just redoing the holes, but I've no idea what I did wrong in the first instance. Attached the file, if anyone is interested.

Edit: the one thing I'm now struggling with is that I've changed the box length, and the number of ports, and they no longer appear to be aligned! Working on this, though.

[CoreyDaun]

When you are arraying elements such as this, perhaps also include a Reference Line in the Array Group. That way, you can constrain the Array's origins and second offset distance more easily by dimensioning to that Reference Line. Also note that by using Arrays, you won't be able to have "Number of Ports" set to 1, since an Array group cannot be set to 1.

[mn08jhh]

Hi Corey,

Thank you very much for your help. With regards to have 1 port,that isn't a product we sell, so no issues there 🙂

When you say include a reference line in the array group, is that with the intention of this line being arrayed with the rest of the group? I'll have to find a tutorial on using reference lines in arrays.

Thanks,

dirtychinchilla

[CoreyDaun]

Attached is a sample Family (Revit 2014) that demonstrates two Arrays using embedded Reference Lines: The upper one is just a simple Array with a manually inputted Number of Items, whereas the lower one calculates the Number of Items based on the box's Length and the desired spacing between items.

[mn08jhh]

Hi Corey,

Thank you very much for uploading the example. I understand what you've done with the arrays - fortunately I need the simpler of the two as I'm happy to input the number of ports myself. Is there any advantage, other than the need to only change one input rather than two, of using the method based on line length?

What I don't understand is how you've locked these reference lines to the circle. I thought that you had perhaps aligned them to both the center mark, and to the reference planes on which you'd like them to be pinned, but I see that you have no centre mark for the circle, and it's not possible anyway. 

I did the following, which didn't work:

1. Draw the reference planes
2. Add the diameter parameter for the circle
3. Draw the reference lines onto the circle
4. Align these reference lines to the reference planes
5. Group the circles and reference lines together
6. Array

As I say, this didn't work...what am I doing wrong??

Edit: I can see that your circles aren't even aligned to a reference plane...??

Thanks again,

Jonathon

[CoreyDaun]

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mn08jhh wrote:

"Thank you very much for uploading the example. I understand what you've done with the arrays - fortunately I need the simpler of the two as I'm happy to input the number of ports myself. Is there any advantage, other than the need to only change one input rather than two, of using the method based on line length?"

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It's a case-by-case basis; one should use whatever method is appropriate for the design. For example, if one were creating a fence Family, it would be obnoxious to have to manually input the number of slats in each segment of the fence. In this case, the second "Fill-Array" method would work beautifully. In your case, the manually inputted number of ports approach is what you need - I was including that other just to demonstrate that method.

---

mn08jhh wrote:

"What I don't understand is how you've locked these reference lines to the circle. I thought that you had perhaps aligned them to both the center mark, and to the reference planes on which you'd like them to be pinned, but I see that you have no centre mark for the circle, and it's not possible anyway."

---

What I did was draw the Void and the Reference Lines in the center of the circle, and the Array both the Void AND the Reference Lines together. By doing that, they are included in the Array Group and it makes it easier to constrain the Groups.

Regarding the lack of Reference Planes, I normally would use them, but I wanted to demonstrate how useful those embedded Reference Lines could be. The first item of the Array is constrained to the horizontal Reference Plane with the linear constraint, and then second item of the Array is horizontally constrained to the first, by activating the Align command and selecting the appropriate Reference Lines.

[mn08jhh]

Hi Corey,

I understand your first point about the appropriate time to use each method. It's ambiguous in the models that I'm doing as the length determines the number of ports, and vice versa. The boxes do not vary in size based on anything other than number of ports. Anyway, some food for thought!

I'm attempting to do what you've said, drawing the void and the reference lines. As far as I can tell, when you draw the reference lines, they attach themselves to the circles automatically, if drawn correctly? I have managed to array everything as I wanted, though, which is fantastic, so thank you very much. I'm learning a lot today.

Edit: Just adjusted something, and I can't seem to control the spacing within the array if it changes from what it was when I first created the array. What should I be doing here?

One other question - I'm colouring the back face of these voids black, to indicate that there's a hole there. Is it possible to array this, because it seems to be impossible to select it to put it into a group?

Further to that,

[CoreyDaun]

If you are using the Paint tool to color the inside of the ports, be aware of this behavior:

In the Family Editor, if you do anything to reduce the Number of Items in the Array, all of the "Paint" data will be removed for those items removed. The paint will not be restored when the Number or Items is increased again.

When loaded into the Project, Revit remembers which surfaces were painted, so if the Number of Items is reduced and then restored, the paint will be restored as well. Due to this behavior, the work-around using the Paint tool would be to set the Family to the maximum possible number of ports and Paint them, and leave that as the default.

An alternative strategy here may be to make the entire Extrusion black and then paint the rest of the surfaces with the appropriate material.

[mn08jhh]

I like the sound of the reverse solution, that's my kind of thinking.

Thanks a lot for your help Corey. I got it all working beautifully with regards to the circular voids and the arrays. Seriously got a lot to learn, but it's very exciting.

All the best,

Jonathon