Adding Mass Elements to Revit Model Groups

[ckhill]

Has any one experienced strange Revit group behavior when adding mass elements to a Revit Model Group?

I am able to add a mass element to a Revit Model Group. 

However, when I insert an instance of that group, the mass element does not appear in the instance. 

Upon review, it appears to stays fixed in the original model group location.  When I select the group instance; its "linked" to the original with the mass element.

We often use mass elements to create custom elements in our home designs, so this could be troublesome.

Is this a known Revit issue?  And if so, is there a workaround?

Thank you,

Cathy

[kmfuhrman · Accepted solution]

I tend to use Groups strictly with arrayed elements in Families. Otherwise, as you are finding out, Groups can be quirky in projects. Our workaround would be to create a family out of the elements you would normally group, and use as a Component family. The other advantage is that every time a Group is copied in a Revit project, it's like creating a whole new set of elements that Revit has to calculate. For some reason (beyond my knowledge) a family can be used over and over, but Revit has less of a memory burden creating multiple family objects.

Do you assign a category to the mass element? (Casework, for example)

[RDAOU · Accepted solution]

 @ckhill

The problem lies in the definition of the element(s)... define Mass?

There are several ways to place a mass in a project; however, Revit interprets such masses/elements differently...That's where one has to ask are using In-Place Mass/Component or a Mass/Component in a Family loaded into the project?

One can group in place components/masses in the project environment with no issues but I personally look at in a figurative way -> the relation between a Family vs. In-Place component/mass with respect to the project (regardless of the category) is same relation between a Resident vs a tourist/refugee in a City (irrespective of their financial stature).

Ideally (99.9% of the times) I start new family or conceptual mass >>  model what I need >> Save >> load into the project (never had issues) and this is not a workaround...I believe this is the right workflow and the In-Place is the workaround which might be convenient in particular cases.

besides that make sure the any visibility graphics/view template/workset allows for viewing masses

[ckhill]

Thank you for your feedback. 
Creating a family of the component was the way to make the group behave as I wanted it to.

Thanks,

Cathy