Add standard Revit parameter to family

[spakkala]

This may be a silly question but...

Revit comes with parameters that you can insert into a schedule. For example: For an air terminal schedule, there is a parameter called module size. If my family does not have that parameter, how do I add it so that I can populate my schedule? If I create a shared parameter of the same name, and use that one, then there are 2 instances of that parameter in my schedule. The one I just made which is filled out, and the standard one which is not filled out. I understand I can just use mine, but if I load another family in that has that parameter, then I don't have to do anything. Just wondering if this is possible and if I'm even making sense.

[ToanDN]

https://knowledge.autodesk.com/support/revit-products/learn-explore/caas/CloudHelp/cloudhelp/2018/EN...

[spakkala]

Maybe I misspoke. I understand the shared parameters and how to set up my own.

Maybe I should have just asked if there is somewhere where Revit has their shared parameters that I can go get.

[iainsavage · Accepted solution]

If its a shared parameter in a family you should be able to export it to a shared parameter file then add it back to your own families.

https://knowledge.autodesk.com/support/revit-products/learn-explore/caas/CloudHelp/cloudhelp/2015/EN...

If its a built-in non-shared parameter then you’d need to use Dynamo to transfer values from the built-in parameter to your own shared parameter.

You could also create your own shared parameters to gather up values from other families (using formulas in the families) so that you always have the same fields in your schedules e.g. [manufacturer A’s family] their Size = YourSize, [manufacturer B’s family] their Size = YourSize, etc then just have YourSize field in your schedule.

[spakkala]

Thanks! I will just find some families that have that shared parameter and export it. I was just curious where Revit is getting their parameters from that you can add as a schedule field.

[iainsavage]

I’m still not clear whether you mean shared parameters which are in a family or if you mean a built-in parameter coming from the programme’s coding.

[spakkala]

I am confused myself. I don't quite understand how Revit works at times. 

When you create an air terminal schedule, one of the fields to add is neck size. I guess I don't understand where Revit looks to get this information. Is it a mechanical parameter? Is it an identity parameter? etc.

Then when I want to add that parameter to a family, so the "neck size" field in the schedule will populate, how do I do it I guess. If I make it a mechanical parameter in the family and label it as neck size, how will the schedule know where to find it? Am I making any sense?

[iainsavage]

I’ll need to look at that in more detail to answer you regarding specific “native” parameters because they are not all of the same variety, unless someone else out there already knows the answer.

One thing that I would strongly recommend is don’t give your parameters the same name as an Autodesk parameter - you will end up with two parameters with the same name in your project but they will not be the same parameter and it becomes very confusing. Manufacturer’s can be very guilty of creating their own Size parameter for example and I’ve got projects with maybe six different Size fields available to schedules, mostly unpopulated.

I would suggest using your own names, maybe even pre-fixing with a company abbreviation, for easy identification.

[spakkala]

Thank you.

My parameters are suffixed with something to distinguish them. 

To further clarify so we are on the same page:

If I download an air terminal family, and it has the neck size parameter, it populates in my schedule.

If I download an air terminal family that does not have the neck size parameter, how do I add it so Revit knows what it is? The previous family added that parameter (because it is populating in the schedule), so how do I add that same parameter without duplicating it. 

Most of my families for a specific category come with the correct parameters to populate the schedule. But a few do not. If I create a shared parameter for those few, then I have to go add that parameter to all the other ones that already have something that is populating in order to have a common field in the schedule. It just seems that for the few families that do not have that specific parameter, I could add it without "duplicating" that one in the schedule.

But maybe I'm way out to left field!

[iainsavage]

I recommend that you try something like Paramanager from DiRoots (free download from their website or from the Autodesk app store). It makes organising, exporting and batch importing parameters very easy.

Attached are some exports from a few OOTB Autodesk air terminal families and you'll see that generally none of the parameters are shared parameters - they are either built-in parameters or family parameters in which case only the built-in parameters will appear in tags or schedules.

Below is an excerpt from Paul F Aubin's blog which might be of interest, explaining the different types of parameter: