Titleblock Instance Parameters

[diannreed]

I work in the MEP dept of a multi-discipline firm. In my department, we have different mechanical & electrical engineers for each project (sometimes not knowing who is doing what until way after I have the project set up in either Revit or AutoCAD).  In Louisiana, each engineer has a separate seal for their discipline (unlike Texas where it says "engineer" and he can theoretically seal any discipline). Thus, we have a need for separate engineer's names, registration numbers, and seals on one project.

Our titleblock comes from the architect, so we cannot make a "generic" titleblock with that information. What we use is a "company stamp".  In AutoCAD, I have a LA stamp loaded into the TB XREF with all engineer's names and reg #'s and use layers to turn off/on the engineer I need for that particular sheet.  We also have a preliminary stamp that remains on the plans until we final seal them.  I have attached a PDF of our "company stamp".

Right now, I am using two different titleblocks in Revit for each project (one for electrical and one for mechanical) and load the TB.rfa with the correct engineer for each sheet I create.  I am convinced I can use instance parameters and only have one titleblock.  I don't want to have to create parameters for each new project TB.  Ideally, I would like to load the companystamp.rfa into the architect's titleblock and it work...with one titleblock...similar to AutoCAD.

What I've found is that I can get instance parameters to work within the TB.rfa but once I load the TB.rfa into the project.rvt, I cannot see/modify any instance parameters.  I also do not want to load the parameters directly into each sheet.  There is too much room for error with different engineers and several sheets.

Hope that makes sense!  Thanks.

[David_W_Koch · Accepted solution]

There are several ways you could achieve this.  One would be to use set up a series of Yes/No parameters (one for each engineer's seal) and then drive the visibility through the title block family similar to what is described for Key Plans in this blog article:

http://architects-desktop.blogspot.com/2011/10/revit-key-plans-more-detail.html

In this case, however, I would probably create a separate family for each engineer's seal, and then nest them into a "master" seal family that has one instance of the seal, tied to a type-based family parameter.  In that master seal family, there would be a type for each engineer's seal, with the family parameter set to the associated nested seal family.

That master family could then be inserted into a Title Block family, and a label assigned to it, driven by an instance-based family parameter.  This Title Block family would then be loaded into your project, and, when a sheet is selected in the project, you will find that instance-based family parameter on the Properties palette, and set it to the desired engineer's seal.

In the attached ZIP file, you will find a sample master seal file and a project file in which the title block has the master seal file inserted and labeled as noted above.  In order to keep the file size below the attachment limit, I stripped a lot of "stuff" out of the sample project and did not include the individual seal families, but you can open the master seal file and then edit/save the nested families if you want.  The family parameters are both called "Seal" (you could use different names if you want) and are placed in the Graphics category.  The family files are all Generic Annotations.  One caveat:  If you nest other Generic Annotations in your title block file (for a Key Plan, or other graphics), it will be possible to select one of those types for the Seal.  Unfortunate, but that is the way it works - you have to train and trust your users to select the right family type for the seal.  The sample file only has the Seal - Master.rfa Generic Annotation, so those are the only choices in the sample.

[diannreed]

That worked perfectly!  Thanks so much!