Standard Symbol Sheets

[lile001]

How would you go about creating a standard symbol sheet in Revit?

[asommer]

Do you mean Symbols Legend?

If you want a template with all this set up to start a job, Project Templates are great for this.

[KRAIGSPENCE3386]

Well, yes, I want this all set up at the bat the beginning of a job, and obviously one would use templates for that. But the question is - How to I create a symbol sheet in a template int he first place with Revit out of the box (N00B ALERT: just bought it two weeks ago) When we print drawings for bid, the first drawing defines what all the symbols mean. How do you create such a sheet in Revit? THe only way I can think of now is to laboriously draw copies of your Revit-generated symbols in AutoCad, and then import them. Sounds like a huge task. Is there a simple way of making this sheet?


Hack #1: Export all your sheets to AutoCad, laboriously copy all the symbols onto one .dwg, then import that back into Revit. (Aarrrgh!)

Surely there is an easier way.

[asommer]

Use a Legend. You load all of the families you need, open a new legend and drag the families to the view. You can add text next to the object, describing the objects. You should be able to do this in the project template, so it is already done when you start the job. It's pretty easy to set up the Legends. You should be able to set up standard sheets with note blocks and such, also.

There is the issue of the Revit objects shown a bit differently than your Autocad standards, you could open each family and insert the Cadd block, turn off the visibility of the 3d components in plan view and it will display the Cadd block in plan view. Just be careful how the object is oriented.

[KRAIGSPENCE3386]

Oh, so they are called Legends in Revit.

A key peice of information, since if you don't know what it is named you can't search for it in help. We call them symbol sheets. I always thought a Legend started with "Long ago in a Galaxy far away..."


OK, I have a little legend created, but I can't seem to figure out how to turn off the 3D components. Whatever I do with Visibility/Graphics seems to turn off all or none. How do you do that?

[asommer]

A couple of ways... You could change the detail level to medium or coarse- Most of the out of the box objects from revit are created with 2-D symbology, just set to "not show" in fine detail.

You can also change how each line and extrusion shows in the family editor. Just select a line or extrusion and go to "Visibility Settings".

I have also replaced the revit symbology of some pipe fittings with our standard blocks. Just "Import CAD" in the family editor and select the CAD counterpart DWG.

Good Luck!

[lile001]

Unfortunately none of those suggestions have any effect on 3D objects in legends.

Here is the only thing I could do that actually worked. In the Project Browser, under Legends, go to Visibility/Graphics. For the offending categories that have a 3D model next to the symbol, say a duplex receptacle, go to the column called "Projection/Surface", Override the cell in the LINES column, and set the line color to White (255,255,255). THen, hit OK, and turn Model Graphics Style (At the bottom of the window) to Hidden Line. The darn 3D things dissappear.


What a crazy Hack! I wish you could just turn off 3D stuff in the legend. Why would you ever want anything 3D in a legend at all? Edited by: lile001 on Feb 24, 2010 12:36 AM

[asommer]

Funny, all worked just fine for me. What objects are you putting in the legend? Do your 3D objects have 2D symbols with them? Check them out in the family editor. You can set the view settings for each individual piece and line in the family. Your settings here determine what shows and doesn't show in Floor Plan, Elevation, Section, and Coarse, Medium, or Fine detail.

[JoseFandos]

When the families are face based, like many of the electrical fixtures, with the families properly done, you still see 3D geometry showing through in the legend. What lile001 suggests, setting the projection lines to white, is the only workaround.

I believe this to be a bug. See image below. The second image shows how the families display in the legend once the projection line has been set to white. The only one that shows that gray square is an out of the box family, which can be done better.

Default legend view

Legend view with Projection/Surface Lines for Electrical Fixtures set to white

[JoseFandos]

The other issue is that these symbols cannot be rotated. Though I am sure they exist, I have yet to ever come accross a electrical symbol legend with the symbols placed sideways. The ones I am used to work with appear as the image below. Currently to do what's shown in the provided image, I can't use a standard legend and drop my electrical fixtures in it. There are many ways to accomplish this, but none as nice as if this was supported directly when creating component legends.

Also, does anyone know how to directly submit bugs to the Revit team within Autodesk? As in, what is the best way of doing so.

[CoreyDaun]

Hello Jose, and welcome to the Discussion Groups!

Legends function poorly in this respect. Our method here is to make our embedded Generic Annotation families Shared and then to manually compose the legend into a Drafting View (single-placement) or a Legend (multi-placement).