Why is not a good practice to mirror families in a project? how identify mirrored families in a project?

[MariangelaM]

I am working in a hospital project as an architect. The model was reviewed by another consultant. The major failed point is the number of mirrored families. Why that is a problem? if that is not a good practice, I would like to know what can be mirrored and what cannot?

Thanks

Mariangela

[barthbradley]

Mirror Family?  Mirroring is done all the time. That is what the Control Types are all about.   

[MariangelaM]

 It seems it is an issue for MEP. For example hot and cold water. If you mirror a mixer, the hot water will be on the wrong side. Also for windows, if you mirror a window all of them will schedule as the same object but they are different. I am trying to understand what objects can be mirrored and what objects should not. 

[barthbradley]

Sounds like you know the answer to you own question. Obviously there are components you don't want to mirror. A cash register would be another one. What more can we tell you?  

[MariangelaM]

That is the problem...it seems that almost nothing can be mirrored.

[ToanDN · Accepted solution]

There are some equipment that are side specific in order to access, clearance, and utility connection; or some door types such as cross corridor, opposite swing doors that need to be swing away on the right side of the traffic direction. Those should not be mirrored.

[MariangelaM]

Maybe the solution is to generate a list of families/categories that will or will not be mirrored and get an approval from the auditor. 

Thanks Toan, I appreciate your answers.

[ToanDN]

What I do is add a model text to the family so that when it is mirrored in the project, I can tell right away.  There maybe more hightech solutions via dynamo but I am a visual kind of guy.

[MariangelaM]

That is a good visual idea Toan but I will be worried of the file size. My last question to you: mirror a family and flip a family is the same thing? 

[ToanDN]

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@MariangelaM wrote:

That is a good visual idea Toan but I will be worried of the file size. My last question to you: mirror a family and flip a family is the same thing? 

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As long as you don't type a paragraph or use chinese calligraphy letters for the model text then the file size would not increase by a lot.

Mirror and flip are different means to get to the same result.  If you add a flip control to the family then hitting the space bar in project will flip the family back and forth.  If you do not add a flip control in the family then hitting the space bar will rotate the family clockwise by 90 degree increment.  Pick what makes sense for you, some family maybe better to have flips and others may not.

[MariangelaM]

Thanks ToanDN. I really appreciate your support.

[h_echevarria]

This article explains some problems of mirroring objects in Revit. If you use the flip controls it should be fine:
https://statics.teams.cdn.office.net/evergreen-assets/safelinks/1/atp-safelinks.html  

@h_echevarria - Moderation team deactivated link as it cannot be verified as a safe link.