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

[ToanDN]

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@marlijswartVBLPK wrote:

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. 

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It is because you family is face based.  You shouldn't have any issue rotating the family on the host face in an elevation though.

[marlijswartVBLPK]

"Always vertical" is listed in the cabinetry family file, but not the hardware file. 

[Alfredo_Medina]

Can you group the hardware family and then rotate it?

[ReneBogersREBO]

Hi Alfredo,

Where can I find that blog-article about the 3 ways of rotating?

Regards, René

[Alfredo_Medina]

Hi, @ReneBogersREBO 

That blog article is no longer availabe.

As I have explained before in this or other threads, there are always 2 types of questions in these threads

1) how to do I rotate an object that I need to rotate in a different plane, say, 90 degrees, but won't let me.

2) how do I rotate an object by parameters in 2 or 3 axes?

Which of the two question is yours? 

[ReneBogersREBO]

Hi @Alfredo_Medina,

I was curious about it and wanted to read the article for learning 😉

With this issue I have a problem, I try to explain.

I have 2 families, which need to act the same.

family 1:

this is a "generic model" I can rotate this in planview, but in sections it can't rotate. When needed to rotate then a YES/NO parameter needs to be checked and then an ANGLE parameter needs to be filled. This works great and needs to be like this.

familie2:

this is a "pipe fitting". This fitting needs to react the same like family1, but this familie rotates in plan and section views. I don't want it to rotate in section views, unless when the YES/NO is checked.

Other option if possible? (I even like this better, but don't know if it can be accomplished).

if the family is rotated, and degrees are between -45 and 45 OR between 135 and 225 a parameter needs to be filled with "wall" otherwise it has to be filled with "floor".

Hope I made myself clear about this.

[Alfredo_Medina]

@ReneBogersREBO 

All of the above is possible. To control rotation in different axes, you need the following: families with these properties: work-plane based=yes , always vertical=no . Then you can control the rotation by nesting one workplane-based family into another one. The first nesting can take care of 1 or 2 axes, but to make it simpler, you can do 1 axis per nesting. Each host family needs a reference line, whose rotation is controlled by an angle parameter, on the plane that you want to rotate. Then you insert the nested family, and place it on the screen, move it, rotate it, and then do Edit Workplane and select the reference line. Then repeat the process in the next level of nesting, until you have control over 3 axes of rotation. 

Do I wish Revit had a Gumball tool such as in Rhino for rotating an object easily in any direction? Of course I do. But in the meantime, I do it as explained above, when I need something like this:

[jordanlatta]

Sorry to revive this old thread yet again... but I have a problem very similar to the original post. I am working on a large apartment project in Revit with light fixtures, walls, etc. in the groups. Some of the light fixtures are upside down (orange object in image below). I do not want them to be upside down. I cannot figure out how to rotate/flip them to be oriented correctly.

I've already spent most of my morning reading through this thread and various other webpages related to this topic, with no good solutions to my problem so far. Some of these include:

1) "group the family, rotate it, and ungroup it" - Revit does not let me do this, see attached screenshot.

2) "open the family, set the family to be work-plane based: yes, and always vertical: no" - I am not super knowledgeable about how family parameters work, but I'm pretty sure the family in question is face-based and does not have these options in the list of family parameters. (see attached file, which is just a save-as of the group in question)

3) "click the flip icon that should appear on any face-based or workplane-based families" - not appearing for me in any views, not sure why.

4)  "Delete the light fixture and reinsert it correctly / copy the one from the living room into the bedrooms" - This deletes the tag and circuit that our electrical engineer made already. If there is no other way, then I guess I'll make him redo some work, although this is obviously not ideal. I'd like to flip the light that is already there, if possible since it is already tagged and circuited.

5) "Make a new generic family instead that is not face-based" - I think this will be my long term solution for this situation on future projects, but not this particular project because it is too far along. (In general, I've found that Revit does not handle face/workplane associations well when objects are placed inside of model groups and later need to be modifed/moved in any capacity whatsoever.)

Any suggestions for flipping this light?