topic Re: Family Elbow - No Auto-Rotate Solution Was Found in Revit MEP Forum

Family Elbow - No Auto-Rotate Solution Was Found

davidronson — Tue, 30 Apr 2019 17:39:15 GMT

I am working on an elbow family. I have checked everything I can think of but when trying to use it in Routing Preferences I get an error saying that "No auto-routing solution was found". When flexing the fitting in the Family Editor, it appears to work as designed and I can also place it manually in the project w/o error. Hoping a family building guru would be willing to download my fitting and get me pointed in the right direction.

Re: Family Elbow - No Auto-Rotate Solution Was Found

J.Wehmer — Tue, 30 Apr 2019 18:41:38 GMT

The family provided was a good shot at a pipe fitting family, but unfortunately there are a lot of fatal flaws with the constraints.

Below is a screencast of the results of the errors;

-The 'Center' work planes are typically pinned down and never move when the family flexes. The intersection of the "Center(Front/Back)" and "Center(Left/Right)" planes determine the family base point (0,0,0). With your formulas you are constantly moving the family base point, so it cannot determine an auto route because it tries to flex the family and it all changes. <--the moving the origin planes is a big deal when building a family. The planes are by default pinned down for a reason, I recommend to NEVER unpin the 'Center' planes.

-You have multiple dimensions to control the same constraint. This is going to over constrain your family and most likely cause errors in the future

-The fitting does not appear correctly when adjusted because it thinks it is still connected at the newly-moved, center point of the family. But the geometry does not flex appropriately from the instance parameters.

Screencast will be displayed here after you click Post.

e7742143-9299-43ae-856b-59e342d545c6

Conclusion: Modify the OOTB fitting to how you need. The OOTB Pipe & Duct fittings are a great place to start, and then you can modify/constrain the geometry as needed.

I don't mean to shred the family, just trying to help!

Re: Family Elbow - No Auto-Rotate Solution Was Found

davidronson — Tue, 30 Apr 2019 18:47:21 GMT

Ha you wont hurt my feeling! Very much appreciate the feedback. I have continued to compare it to the OOTB and am getting much closer. It now works with Routing Preferences but produces an error on the first instance. I have attached it again if you want to look again.

Re: Family Elbow - No Auto-Rotate Solution Was Found

J.Wehmer — Tue, 30 Apr 2019 18:58:37 GMT

I notice that you are using Reference Lines to control, rather than using reference planes. I have had more luck using the ref planes.

The elbow gets angry when I try to do a 30° bend. Use caution when using the Charlotte Pipe fittings, I have heard they are difficult to work with/modify.

I just looked at our standard elbow fitting, and it looks like a modified OOTB elbow. Is there any reason you need a different family than the OOTB?

Re: Family Elbow - No Auto-Rotate Solution Was Found

davidronson — Tue, 30 Apr 2019 19:31:26 GMT

I have built this from scratch and it serves a pretty specific purpose not just Charlotte. I will look into using planes instead, but I do think your previous comment about the default origin is moving. I had assumed I could create a new Default Origin through a different set of planes but that seems to be causing an issue. Again, thanks for the well thought out feedback!

Re: Family Elbow - No Auto-Rotate Solution Was Found

davidronson — Thu, 02 May 2019 16:42:36 GMT

Hey J, so I found that I was not using the right Parameter Types, I was using Common/Length instead of Piping/Pipe Size. After changing over the parameter types it started to work.

However I am experiencing another challenge with the Angles. If I save the family at 90 then I can route with 90 very smooth but as soon as I switch to 45 it breaks. I have the necessary data to generate the 45, 60, and 22.5 degree bends but its not able to switch mid-run. If I save the family with 45 then I can route 45 degrees only. Hoping you would be willing to take a look.