Construction Notes in Revit

[OzrenStambuk]

Hi there,

I mostly use Revit for residential design and I am trying to find the best way to make construciton notes like the ones shown in the attachemnt? I am not looking for the perfect parametric solution, since the notes would not be changing massivley between projects. Right now I am using a generic annotation family with a label which I place an rename depending on the note I need. I have stayed away from keyontes since I need to be able to place the notes at non object specific areas. 

Also, if you have any ideas, how would I be able to create notes numbers that have leaders with tick marks around a wall or object as shown below? Is this even possible in Revit or would it involve essentially a custom annotation family with a parameter for width of between tick marks? 

Thank you for your time and any help you can provide. 

Cheers,

Ozren

[sureshchotrani]

From your attachment I see you are puting the numbers for annotating the elements.

In this case I would prepare a Drafiting View in Revit Project file and use for different projects via importing the view:)

[chrisplyler]

Use a drafting view full of text annotations for a set of notes that's going to remain mostly static.

I use a Multi Category tag. I've modified it to have a hexigon border and reference the Comments parameter. I throw the tag on something, select the thing and put a number into its Comments field. I don't ever use the Comments parameter for anything else anyway. If I want comments in a light fixture schedule or something, I'll add a Light Fixture Comments parameter or an Installation Notes parameter or something like that specifically for that schedule. So the default Comments field is perfect for me to use in this way.

[chrisplyler]

Also... you can Edit Type on the tag and change its leader to any one of the Revit leader styles available. Unfortunately there is no way to custom make your own leader style.

[OzrenStambuk]

Thanks for the info both of you. 

This is what I like about Revit, there are many solutions to achieve what one needs. I have a few quick follow up questions if you dont mind. 

I would like to avoid drafting views with static notes becuase I have to often make changes to even the standard notes when dealing with complicated renos. Also, I would like to only have one construciton notes sheet, hopefully with scheduled notes 

So I feel like I am at a junction of methods, either I use only note blocks and create fake relationships between a generic annotation with hex lines with a number in it, and a field in the note block containing a corresponding number. 

OR, I embedd information in the wall types, and create schedules or keynote schedules without any lines to mimic the construction notes I posted earlier. 

Im sorry but I am having trouble wrapping my head around schedules, note blocks, tags and keynotes and differentiating their uses. I assume there is no method that would tag a wall, read the assembly, and make changes if I change the layers of the assembly?

[chrisplyler · Accepted solution]

My method of using the Comments field works for this, if you're also willing to use the Description field for the notes. You just make schedule and include the Comments field and the Description field, sort by Comments, do not show every instance, filter by Comments > 0, and type notes into the description fields.

There are some limitations. No one schedule has every possible element in it. Not even a multi category schedule. My solution? I make a few different multi-category tags with different shapes instead of hex. I make a Wall Notes schedule, a Foundation Notes schedule, etc.

Edit: Oops, no it doesn't make it dynamic like you're looking for. It's still manual entry of notes and of updating them. But it's organized at least. I've never used keynotes, but I suspect you're going to have to figure them out to get what you want.

[loboarch]

The "note block" tool in Revit is created to do pretty much exactly what you are after.  You create a generic annotation with the number and symbol.  The generic anntation would also have a parameter for "comments".  Then use a note block to create a schedule of the generic annotations in the view.

http://help.autodesk.com/view/RVT/2016/ENU/?guid=GUID-A2394758-978A-4E48-A2B4-3A8A690D01F5

[chrisplyler]

AHA! Then you could have them all in one schedule! Er...note block!

[loboarch]

Actually "Note Blocks" were the original tool used for keynoting in Revit before the keynoting system Revit currently has implemented.

I think I am showing my age. 🙂

[chrisplyler]

Okay I'll show mine. I used to be smart. But because of age, now I'm too dumb to even figure out how to make a generic annotation correctly and get it into my project with a parameter that can then be used in the note block.

[OzrenStambuk]

Thank you very much for the info. This is more or less the method I have been using thus far, I thought maybe I was missing something to make the relationship between the tag, element and schedule more parametric. 

For instance, is there any way to make generic annotations 'read' the description field from a wall type it is placed next to? I understand this could not work the same way as a tag, but would this be possible by using something like shared parameters, or is this a different thing entirely? 

I would use multi cat tags as mentioned above except that I really like to place the generic annos on a drafting view where they can line up nicely to form the standard of construction notes req. for residential renos here in Toronto. 

Also, as a final question if you have time, just to confirm something: there is no annotation system in Revit that can, for instance, read and report the assembly order from exterior to interior side right? 

Cheers,

Ozren