Electrical Fixture Elevation Problems

[mwhea]

Hi,

I am having a problem with all the electrical fixtures we have created that the "default elevation" parameter once loaded into a job does not work with out family. 

The second problem is that all our devices a referenced to the centre point for elevations - for example the attached revit file is to be usually inserted in a 1200mm to the centre of the fixture and then maybe needed to be moved to a different location if there is a clash. 

My solution at the moment is to elecate the fitting at 1200 in the family and then when its inserted it is always inserted at this point though changing the default elevation doesn't have any impact on this and if you wanted the fitting to be 1500 AFFL you would have to change the elevation to "300" and not "1500" which may be tricky for new users to the block. 

Any feedback would be appreciated.

[CoreyDaun]

Anyway, there is a specific behavior with the Default elevation in a Project. While you are placing an element, if you change the Elevation under Properties, that inputted value becomes the new default. In order to reset this "Project Default", while you are placing an instance of the Family, use the Type Selector (the pull-down at the top of Properties) and select a different Type of that same Family. This action resets the default elevation back to the Family's default setting.

I've not been upgraded to Revit 2014 yet, so I cannot open the attachment, so I hope this helps!

[mwhea]

Is there any reference plane in the family that adjusts the Elevation parameter in the project?

I have set up my own parameter called "element place height" which I have positioned to the centre of fixture. I guess this is the temporary fix and I just cant touch the elevation parameter as this changes the height of the fixture without updating my created parameter

[CoreyDaun]

There is no way to reference the Elevation Parameter from within the Family; you only have access to the Default Elevation.

At one point, I created a custom elevation parameter just as you did, but my reason for doing so was that you cannot reference the Elevation in a Tag Family, either. This means that Revit is incapable of labeling a wall-mounted device's mounting height. But, it's not like anyone would ever actually have to do that, right? </sarcasm>

From there, I found a way to employ the Spot Elevation Tag so I could continue using the default Elevation parameter, instead of my custom Shared Parameter (which was a pain because other users didn't fully understand what was going on).

[mwhea]

Ah ok, so really the only way to make revit insert items at the height being at the centre of the fixture is to keep my created elevation parameter?

I tried tricking revit by moving my family 3d model to the centre of the reference line, though it still references the elevstion from the bottom geometry.

[CoreyDaun]

Can you post your Family file here?

[mwhea]

It will be in 2014 so you won't be able to open it CADastrophe it is same as one posted at start of thread

[CoreyDaun]

Duh! Sorry 'bout that! Forgot it was that same thread...

Is this Family Face-Based or Work-Plane Based? I don't see any reason why you should be experiencing this problem.

[mwhea]

It's a wall based family converted to face base via the copy monitor trick, autodesk is looking into it. Will see what they say about the problem.


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[yurikim]

To insert this family to a Default elevation referencing to the center of the fixture, what I have done are the steps below. Please refer to the attached family.

1. Check the parameter "Defines Origin" for two reference planes.
2. Create a parameter "Fixture_height_half (=98)".
3. Put the constraints to the fixture geometry and to the elevation as below.
4. When loaded into a project(from a plan view), it is inserted to a default elevation.
5. From Properties, edit the parameter "Elevation" to change the elevation of the fixture.

Hope it helps.

[Mark_Engwirda]

I would be interested to know how you can get any wall based object to orientate correctly in the host based family.

I want the family to act like wall based objects but not be wall based because once it is hosted on a wall you can't change the level the object is on if needed.

[JanYoder7484]

Sigh.  So much hidden functionality.  Thank you so much for revealing this yurikim.  Jan

[MuirEng]

relating back to an earlier post from Corey in this thread...

I would throw away all these new features I have no use for that arrive with every update and take "exposure of device elevation for tags and schedules in a heartbeat!" Is there a chance in hell we can upvote that one so it actually makes it on to the radar?