new title block family issues

[Pshupe]

1. When creating a new titleblock from a CAD titleblock.  How can you import the CAD geometry?  When I import a CAD file only certain items show up.  I cannot copy and paste from a view in a project where an exploded CAD file sits either.  It says I can only C&P to a sheet to a sheet?

2. I'm trying to match line weights from a CAD file.  I've noticed that the Annotation line weights in the title block family differ substantially from the Annotation line weights in the Project file.  I believe I should change my title block family line weights so they relate to the project files, correct? 

Thanks in advance.

Regards Peter.

[Anonymous]

Hi @Pshupe,

here you can find everything you are looking for:

https://knowledge.autodesk.com/support/revit-products/learn-explore/caas/CloudHelp/cloudhelp/2016/EN...

https://knowledge.autodesk.com/support/revit-products/learn-explore/caas/CloudHelp/cloudhelp/2016/EN...

About Line weight

https://www.revitforum.org/architecture-general-revit-questions/14264-how-import-line-weights-autoca...

Best

Nicola Ianeselli
BIM Manager

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[ToanDN]

CAD titkeblock drawing should be drawn in modelspace but you should already
have that in order to xref the titleblock in AutoCAD.

Lineweights in project override lineweights in family.

[Pshupe]

Thanks Nicola, but for my point #1 -  when I import the titleblock as per the link, which is incidently how I initially did it, it does not come in correctly in the family.  Most of the lines are not there.  If I import the same CAD file into a project file, it comes in perfectly.  That is why I also mentioned that I cannot copy paste from a view to a sheet.

For my point #2 - I am not trying to import line weights.  I am trying to match line thickness from AutoCAD, which is a pline with a width, that I just get by listing the thickness with an Object style - annotation line weight in the Revit family.  I was just wondering why the annotation line weight is different in the family vs the project?

Thanks.

Regards Peter.

[Pshupe]

ToanDn - Hmmm that is interesting.  I had no idea what you were saying there.  I looked in the CAD file and the paperspace view is exactly what is coming into my family file but the modelspace view is what shows up if I import to a project file.  That seems strange. It actually imports the paperspace as a default.  I deleted the paperspace tab and it asked me if I wanted to import the modelspace view.  That seemed to work OK.  I had already laid out my title block though, but thanks that seemed to solve one of my questions.  Thanks.

The lineweight question seemed to be the opposite of what you said.  I had to size up my lineweight in the annotations of the family file and then it seemed to size properly.  I will have to test a little bit when I plot though to see if they are printed actual size.  They look a little thin.

Regards Peter.

[ToanDN]

Your second question: After loaded in a Project, changing the lineweights of the Titleblock category and subcategories in the family no longer has any effect. Do it in the Project environment.

[Pshupe]

If I make a titleblock family with certain lineweights I don't want the project lineweights to override them, correct?  I don't want to have to update every project that I load the titleblock family into.  I'd rather have it bring in the lineweights from the family.  If I create new lineweights in the family it seems to bring those in with the associated number of the lineweight, but the number has to correspond to the same weight.

I might be missing something here.  The thickness of the line associated with the number seems to differ for the titleblock annotation categories between titleblock family and titleblock in the project.

Regards Peter.

PS - I have attached the two different Manage - Additional settings - lineweights - annotation line weight charts.  I don't see why they are different.  Thanks.

[ToanDN]

No. It's not how it works. You need to change the lineweights in the
project environment. There is a reason Revit has Transfer project
standards to bring such settings from one project to another.

If you create new unique object styles in the family and load it in the
project, then they will inherit the lineweight set in the family. But go
back to the family and change one, load it back, no effect because the
object styles already exist in the project.

[Pshupe]

Ok - I find that a little strange.  What if you have two or more titleblocks for different types of submissions? I thought it would be nice to have the titleblock family override the project annotation titleblock lineweights.   I can work with the way it is, as long as I keep unique line weight names in the family it should work the way I want it for this titleblock family.  Thanks.

Is there a way to have invisible lines show up in my project for the invisible lines in my titleblock family?  How do I know the boundary of where I can place my views?  I do not have a hard line around my title block.  I am using lines drawn around my views or just the crop regions.  Thanks.

Regards Peter.

[ToanDN]

<Invisible Lines> in family will not show in project.

You could create small crop-marks at the corners of the titleblock so you can see the Sheet size in project.

[Pshupe]

Can I have lines in a titleblock family that I can have show up in the Project on the sheet but not plot?  I need to show the extents of the sheet somehow, so you can adjust your view extents or crop regions to suit the paper size.

Thanks.

Regards Peter.

[ToanDN · Accepted solution]

Unfortunately Revit is WYSIWYG (what you see is what you get) so if a line shows on sheets it will print. There are some workaround:

- Add a visibility parameter so you can turn on/off the lines via a checkbox

- Create a white object style for these lines, you will see them when you hover the mouse over the titleblock. Don't overuse white lines because they may cover objects in Views unexpectedly.

- Add a Guide Grid from the View pallet.  You can customize the grid size and appearance.  Guide grid is one of the special objects that will not print.

[Jacob.westergaard]

Hi Peter, 

Thank you for posting this on the forum, 

I´ve had a look at your thread and I agree with Toan - lines will be visible in a print if it´s visible on the sheet. 

There are a few exceptions but mostly that would be the case. 

Best Regards,

[Pshupe]

Invisible lines are visible in the families and do not print, but I guess you don't print from the families.  I solved the issue by drawing a border, that will print because that is what the client wanted anyway.  They gave me a CAD drawing but I didn't see the line because they used a colour that was close to black and didn't show up on my black background in AutoCAD.  Thanks guys.

Regards Peter.