I am looking for the simplest and most elegant solution of a tagging problem, one that best utilizes the capabilities of the Revit Architecture database.
Here are the initial parameters:
- we are working on a medical equipment layout plan for a hospital ICU. The space design is done in Revit by a different company. We are using their revit file, where appr. 75% of the equipment in question has been modeled, or included using generic models, or models commonly available online. The original model file exceeds 110 MB.
- we need to generate a drawing identifying each piece of equipment, 100 or so pieces, with a unique tag. Several of those are repetitive
- we need to schedule the equipment adding a garden variety of additional information (sizes, power supply, colors, part numbers, purchaser, etc.)
My approach was to link the original file into my Revit model and then create simple 2D components for each of the pieces of furniture or special equipment. I ended up with 62 different families (.rfa) named according to the tagging convention. Although I tried, I could not figure out a way to have the category tags to automatically "read" the file name and schedule my components, so there was the extra step of entering this information. My solution was to link the Excel file our client provided into an AutoCAD drawing, then link to that drawing in Revit. Somewhat convoluted, but does the job fine + creates a link to a live information in Excel.
The downside is, of course, there is no feedback b/w the drawn components and the schedule. Is there a way to schedule these components with the spreadsheet automatically reflecting the information entered in the tag? How do I approach entering the rest of the data associated with each object, in order to make it available for adding into the schedule? Enter somehow in each family? A step-by-step would be appreciated.
Thanks,
R.
