Light Fixture with Floor Plan Visible Items - Help to modify

[Anonymous]

Hello All,

Attached is a fixture family for ceiling mounted exit signs. I did not create it but would like to modify it. My goal is to add model lines that are set to a work plane at a specified distance from the reference plane. This allows me to make it visible in Plan Views such as a Life Safety Plan with out adding additional components in the model or worse yet,,,, using annotation symbols on views..... lol.... I have done this on other fixtures and it works nicely but this one is more complicated. I set op a named plane as you can see in the file. That will allow me to account different ceiling heights and still have the plan view items be below the cut line. My issue is that the ceiling view reference level items are all annotation details that you can only have attached to the reference level. Further, they have visibility parameters so that I can control how it appears... IE double face sign with 2 arrows or single face sign with no arrow, etc., etc...  I would like them to be duplicated, but as model lines so that a can set them to the new reference plane. I also need the new model line items to have the same visibility parameters. That way when insert a family type in the model, the ceiling view graphics and the floor plan view graphics look the same..

Is this even possible? I tried to convert the detail items to model lines .... obviously didn't get very far... lol Any help would be appreciated.

[SteveKStafford]

I don't have access to 2019 on this PC. Are you familiar with the "invisible line trick"? That allows us to cause a family to pass through the cut plane of a view thus making it appear below or above depending on the view we are in. I may not recognize the subtlety of what you're after though.

[barthbradley]

@SteveKStafford spot on.  The Model Line Trick works great.  Just draw a Model Line in section view of the family that extends above the face of the fixture. Maybe 8'-0 (enough to intersect the Cut Plane in the Project.  Now, everything in the family will visible in both the Plan and RCP of the Project. 

[Anonymous]

I have seen it mentioned but I don't quite understand the concept. Do you guys have a link to a video or a screen shot... is it just a single line that touches any part of the modeled item? Is it an <invisible> line type or a regular line type with visibility turned off? Thanks for the help on this. 

[SteveKStafford · Accepted solution]

This is my old blog post about it.

[ToanDN]

It is a vertical model line, <Invisible> type, must be set to Visible, can be set to Not Shown for Plan/RCP and Elevations, can be set to Not Reference, can be associated with a dimension parameter to control the length.

[Anonymous]

WOW...... I am now kicking myself for the time spent on other families.... I mean they work and all, but this was so much easier....... Thanks Guys.... Much appreciated. @ToanDN I will look into the parameter linked length also to help account for situations with particularly high ceilings.... thank you thank you....

[DavidCastello85]

This is a pretty genius trick especially for life safety plans trying to show emergency egress lights. I wish I knew this on my last hospital project... woulda saved me a whole lots of time than having to place detail items all over the dang place. Thanks for sharing this.