Rotate error: "Can't rotate element into this position."

[Anonymous]

I have a simple family comprised of an extruded angle shape.

While I can rotate this freely in the family editor, when I try to rotate it in the project I get a "Can't rotate element into this position." error in Revit 2011.

I have many other similar families that don't have this restriction and this was built from one of those.

Any suggestions?

Thanks,

Jon

[Anonymous]

I'm sure it was hosted to the level I was working on. and it could be rotated in X "and" Y section views. maybe it just wasn't an electrical fixture... who knows.

Thanks for the feedback

[dirk.neethling]

This is so counter-intuitive. And how do I do this programmatically?

[Anonymous]

I am working on Revit MEP fire fighting model. The file size is about 100 to 120 mb. Presently this file is too much bigger to work. Now i need to separate this complete file into different models accordinmg to building floors, but i cannot delete the other floor elements, where my 32GB RAM system is hanging. Even after hours of waiting it is not working.

Which options i can use instead of DELETE command to delete these fire fuighitng elements.???

Please Help

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@kathryn.langan wrote:

When Revit places geometry in a view, it needs a work plane for the object. You can create an object that is hosted to a reference plane and then rotate that reference plane to rotate the object, but it is not possible to just use the Rotate tool in an elevation. I would suggest taking a look at the following blog post on the Revit Clinic from one of our other technicians, Ryan Duell : Rotational Parameters and Face Based Nested Families.

If you still have problems after checking the above, could you attach the family so we can take a closer look?

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[ToanDN]

@Anonymous

Welcome to the forum!

Your question is vastly different from the original.  Feel free to start a new thread.

[fhuff]

Alfredo,

Thank you for your work on this topic.  I found your video most helpful in understanding the adaptive family type.  I found this thread looking to create a unistrut family that would be able to rotate in all three axis.  As of now, my family works and can report to a schedule for quantities.  My only question was about the rotation parameter and how it only applies to the "about the z" and not the xy axis.  I can rotate in section view once loaded into the project, so it does not hinder my family.  I'm assuming you need to add a second reference point that are connected with a reference line that would have a second "xy rotation" parameter.  While frustrating at times, this is why we make the big buck right?   I am posting a link to your video as I have not seen it in this thread.  It may prove easier to understand than the blog post.  Thanks!

[Anonymous]

For the love of God. Why is Revit such an officious and idiosyncratic piece of software? Are you guys in the design/Architecture industry really happy about the easy-and-convenient 10-step process on how to ROTATE an object?? Really? Is workflow ever taken into consideration when designing the user experience/interface of Revit? Why are we as designers/Architects subjecting ourselves to this? 

[ToanDN]

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@Anonymous wrote:

For the love of God. Why is Revit such an officious and idiosyncratic piece of software? Are you guys in the design/Architecture industry really happy about the easy-and-convenient 10-step process on how to ROTATE an object?? Really? Is workflow ever taken into consideration when designing the user experience/interface of Revit? Why are we as designers/Architects subjecting ourselves to this? 

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I am not a "woo hoo" kind of person so saying being happy about a piece of software gives me some cringes.  However, I don't have any problems rotating an object in Revit.  What exactly are you having troubles with?

[robk]

THANK YOU! One happy dance in your honor.

[christophJYCQU]

I could not get this solution to work. looking at my family in elevation, after editing the family to uncheck keep vertical and checking work plane based. I drew in a ref. plane and then associated the family with the plane, and it still stays in the same unrotated position. 

[Anonymous]

try nesting the family into a different family.

[Anonymous]

I'm in the exact same situation as this, simply trying to rotate a 2D object in a 2D space. Can do it easily manually with revit, but when it comes to using the ElementTransformUtils.RotateElement method, I'm getting nothing but errors rotating. Why is it so overlycomplicated to simply rotate a 2d object? Surely this can't be so difficult... I've spent an entire day on it now trying to rotate an object 90 degrees..

[Anonymous]

The only work around I have found at this point. Is to edit family - change the category from what ever it was to Mechanical Equipment. I do not know why but this will allow you to rotate your device in all views. 

[Anonymous]

thaks sr.

[shaikh.abdulmateen]

@Alfredo_Medina 

We used above method of this solution but it's not rotated.

i have seen one popup below

Element cannot be mirrored or rotated in a manner that changes its angle relative to the ground.

Can you help me.

[joel]

Alfred,

Commenting about a pain point while using software to the maker of that software is not "complaining". It is user requesting an improvement from the people who can make that improvement. 

This is how software gets better...

[m-de-lange]

Dear Alfredo,

I came across this post of 10 years ago.

Perhaps you could assist me with this family that i have.

It's not possible to rotate this family horizontal once placed on a face.

I've tried to:

Change it's workplane. Doesn't work.

Always vertical is OFF and the family is Work Plane Based. No difference.

Nesting the family into another and using an angle parameter is not an option. We've done this in the past and it caused issues with the family.

How can i rotate this family using the rotate command from revit??

I've spent over 4 hours now trying to figure it out but i can't get it to rotate from it's vertical position.

[G_Luxo]

You are the real genius. That guy defending that Revit has rules and bla bla bla to justify 3h to rotate a valve is nuts. Thank you brother

[Alfredo_Medina]

Sorry for not replying sooner. I had not seen your post. This family can be rotated by making it a group. Then go to another view, and rotate it. After that, you can ungroup it. 

By the way, I want to clarify a confusion that I see in this thread. There are two questions mixed here:

The first question is how to rotate an element (a family) in a project. For that the answer is one of these: 1) group the family, rotate it, and ungroup it, or 2) open the family, set the family to be work-plane based: yes, always vertical: no, then load the family into the project, use Pick new host, and select a new host face to rotate the object. 

Some users have mentioned that if you change the category of a family to mechanical equipment it can be rotated. But that would be inconvenient and unnecessaryif you use the methods mentioned above. 

The other question is how to rotate an element with angle parameters, in one, two, or three directions. For example, if you want to model a family that needs to rotate in plan, then in elevation, then around itself (or azimuth, altitude, rotation in axis). For that, the answer is more involved, and it has been described several times here. It needs nested families and reference lines, and angular parameters.

The confusion in this thread is that most users who come here are looking for an answer to the first question, and they they read the answer for the second question, and they feel upset.

Again, should Autodesk make both cases of rotation more user-friendly? Yes, absolutely. But that does not happen, so in absence of new ways to rotate elements, these are the solutions that we have. 

[marlijswartVBLPK]

Hello! I  have this error but the solution doesn't work for me (From the family editor: > Modify > Family Category and Parameters > check "Work plane based", uncheck "Always vertical"...) because when I go to Family Category and Parameters for my family (Generic Model), I don't have the option to uncheck always vertical and check work plane based. Any way around this? Trying to place a family I created thats hardware onto cabinet face and need to rotate it 180 degrees. 

[Alfredo_Medina]

Did you scroll down in the Family Category & Parameters window?