Tall building with the same dimensions on each plan

[Alex_Pendray]

Hi I am working on a building with many floors that will carry the exact same dimension strings on each plan.  I want to avoid either manually adding or copying dimensions between all these plans.  In CAD we referenced a file that had the dimensions for the dim strings that would be the same on each plan. Any time we made a change to the file, whether it was to the grids or to the dimension strings themselves, the changes would update on all the repeated plans.

Is there a way of ensuring that the dimension strings in all of the plans remain consistent and don't have to be placed manually?

[ToanDN]

Copy paste aligned to selected views or selected levels.

[Alex_Pendray]

I would like to not have to delete the old dimensions on every sheet and replace them with new ones if the dimensions change what they're dimensioning to.  Is there a way of setting up typical dimensions in one place and have the dimensions on all sheets automatically update?

[RLY_15]

I would advise against this approach.

A BIM purist would probably make the statement that if you want one set of dimensions and your model is showing other dimensions, you're modelling wrong.

My take is that if you have dimensions that are intended to be typical to every floor, showing them on every sheet is redundant information.

The original post is implying that your repeatable dimension strings are tied to your gridlines. Is this the case, or are there more references than that?

[ToanDN · Accepted solution]

Create a view with just grids , place dims, duplicate to create dependent views, then place each dependent view on sheet same place  overlaying the main view.

If your grids are not linked, you can select them and their dimensions and create a group (Revit will create a model group for grids and an attached detail group for dims), then go to other views, select the grid group and use Attach detail group tool from the ribbon and the dims will show for that view. But you do need to do it for each and every view, you cannot copy and paste. It is only two clicks for each view so it shouldn't be a big deal.

[barthbradley]

Clipboard Copy & Paste to Current View not working with your Dims?  

[barthbradley]

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@Alex_Pendray wrote:

I want to avoid either manually adding or copying dimensions between all these plans.  

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oops. Missed this part.  What do you mean you want to avoid "copying". You mean you want Revit to do your work for you?  When that day comes, you might find yourself out of a job.  😉 

Another way this can be done is through Grouping, but it requires work as well.  I know you want to avoid that.  

Submit a new wishlist item on the Ideas Forum.  Sentient Revit.  Be careful what you wish for though.  

[Alex_Pendray]

I think what you described in your second paragraph is what I want.  I would have to manually add the dims to every sheet, but once set up, it should update the dims everywhere at once. Thank you!  I'll test it out and report back.

[Alex_Pendray]

I'm having trouble with the detail groups containing grid dimensions.  Not all dimensions appear in the view when the group is placed.  in one view the dimensions moved way off to the side for no reason.  See the images below:

This is how all dimensions should look in plan:

level 05 is missing part of a dim string (highlighted)

Something strange happened with level 06.  its missing the same dim and the east dims shot off to the side.

Why is this so hard?  There were a ton of unforeseen impacts to just grouping my grids.  Grids are far more difficult to update their extents now across the board.

A previous poster noted that from a BIM purist perspective, annotation duplicated on multiple sheets is redundant and unnecessary/prone to error.  To which I say:  BIM or not, someone has to build a 7 storey wood frame condo building with 6 identical floors and they need to know what size things are and what they're made of on each floor or else they cant build it.  I cant tell my boss that I'm actually a BIM purist and I refuse to make duplicated annotation, I would be fired.  Revit is supposed to save time and in some ways it does. But I find that when it comes to annotation that MUST be duplicated on multiple sheets, its actually slower than traditional CAD because the elements need to be tagged with smart annotation.  In traditional CAD, the annotation was just made of lines and text boxes, you could make a reference that goes on top of your duplicated floors and update annotation on all floors at once.  I'm tempted to do this but seems to defeat the purpose of using this software.

[ToanDN]

The gid visibility is not identical from one view to the next as far as I can tell. It works for me but my plans are with the exact same scope box and same grids propagation. Consistency is the key 

[Alex_Pendray]

You're right.  Thank you.