Revit Multiple Door Family

[Anonymous]

Ok, so I've browsed the forums for a while and only now had a problem I couldn't find a solution.

I'm building a door family with a variable amount of leaves, for a shaft.

I've nested a door family and used an Array parameter to control the amount of doors I want. The problem is, I can't do only one leaf. I've created a visibility parameter to turn off the array when it's only one, but the wall still gets cut. So I have a single door but a huge hole. Is there any way to stop the array from cutting walls when it's invisible?

Also, a second issue. A guy asked me to make the family calculate the number of leaves by itself, given the space I want to cover. I did this fine and it's working, but another guy wants the door to respond to any two of 3 parameters: I can give either number of leaves and wall length, number of leaves and door width or wall length and door width. With my current knowledge, I think this is impossible on Revit, is that true?

Thanks in advance for every response!

[Alfredo_Medina · Accepted solution]

Something important to define when you are making Revit families is the scope of work. For lack of defining that scope, now you are in trouble trying to satisfy different requests that lead to different directions. A good family serves a certain purpose well, not too many different purposes at the same time. There are in the market some families called "all-in-one" that try to do it all. The result is, in my opinion, a complicated family that has long winded formulas, a long list of parameters, a huge size, and lots of yes/no options that are difficult to understand. That is not recommended at all. Instead, do a set of several simple families that serve one purpose at a time.

About your question in regards to the array, same comment: the array must be driven by one main variable, not by any of the variables at the same time. There must be one variable that is designated as the main value that drives the others. Either you drive the array by the number of items, or by length of the array, or by the spacing, but not all of them at once. It's impossible.

[Anonymous]

Thanks for your response!

I figured as much... it's just I'm new to the company, hired as "that guy knows how to do parametric families" and I didn't want to say "it can't be done" on the first family without being absolutely certain.

Anyhow, thank you