Filled Region in Family

[stever66]

Why can't I make a filled region to put in a family to show clearances in front of panels, or to show an emergency hatch on a light fixture?

In the family editor, there is a masking region, but not a filled region. 

I can load a filled region in as a detail component, but then I don't think I can get the filled region to resize to adjust to the family geometry.   For example, I'd like to have a hatched region show the clearance in front of a panel.  The region should get wider if the panel gets wider.  And the depth should be a parameter in the panel family.

Is there a way to do this? 

[ToanDN]

You can create a filled region in a Detail family with size parameters, nest it in you main family and associate its parameters with those in your main family.  It will flex properly.

[stever66]

Ugh.... I'll give it a try, but it would be so much easier to just put it all in the one family. 

If I have a box with clearance on 4 sides, I guess I need 4 detail items.

[ToanDN · Accepted solution]

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@stever66 wrote:

Ugh.... I'll give it a try, but it would be so much easier to just put it all in the one family. 

If I have a box with clearance on 4 sides, I guess I need 4 detail items.

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No, you just need 1 detail item and place it at 4 places.  You can associates parameters for each instance independently from the others.

One benefit with using nested families is that when they are turned off, they don't affect how you select elements in project.  Drawing boxes directly in your family are still selectable when they are turned off in project.  When your clearance area is large, it's very annoying.  See the topic below:

https://forums.autodesk.com/t5/revit-architecture-forum/families-are-selectable-outside-of-geometry-...

[stever66]

It took me a minute to figure out how to get the parameters to connect, but other than that, it was actually pretty easy, and seems to work well. 

[Anonymous]

Hi ToanDN,

Thank you for your advice. I was facing same problem to add the filled region and figured out this way that you said.

But now when loading the family inside the project the filled region doesn't show on plan view.

Someone has any idea why? 

Thanks! 

[ToanDN]

Can you share the family?

[Anonymous]

Yes sure!

[Anonymous]

Hi! Little late to the conversation, but I'm having a similar problem. I loaded a filled region as a detail item into my family (curtain panel), it has a dimension parameter for length and width, but I cannot get it to adjust when I change the width of the panel. What do you mean by "associate its parameters with those in your main family"?

Thanks!

[stever66]

I started with a "detail component" family template and created a filled region.  (yours is an extrusion in a generic model family, so there are a lot of reasons it might not show up in a particular view.)

Insert reference planes before you draw the filled region, then lock the filled region sides to the reference planes.  Then I added type parameters for Clearance Width and Clearance Depth to control the size of the region, and I locked these to the reference planes.  See the 1st photo.  

Load the filled region into an electrical equip. family, place an instance,  and lock it to the face of the equipment.  

In the elect. equip. family, make a new "Depth" parameter.  Select the filled region, and in the properties, select "Edit Type".  In the type properties box, you can make the clearance depth equal to the depth.  See the second photo.

[m-de-lange]

Luckily, only 5 years later, you can finally add filled regions within the family itself rather than being forced to make an annotation family with filled regions to load into your family. BUT it's only possible in revit 2023. Thanks autodesk....

[RobDraw]

You should thank them for helping in the Product Feedback page.

[sragan]

I was actually ok with using a detail item and loading into the family, once I figured out how to make it work.  It seemed like a lot of extra work at first, but it’s not really that hard.  And it’s probably more efficient to use the same detail item for things like front, back, and side clearance.

Now on to bigger and better things - like a 3D clearance family that also shows up in elevations, sections, and 3D views.  

[EliotCHHH7]

I dont understand how you build a filled region in another family to nest inside if it wont let me build it in a family to begin with. In reading through the comments I also dont understand if you are saying you build a box and then just change the width of the hatch. Im trying to fill or apply shading "filled region" to  irregular shapes within my family so Im not following the resizing the geometry part of this either. 

thank you!

[sragan]

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@EliotCHHH7 wrote:

I dont understand how you build a filled region in another family to nest inside if it wont let me build it in a family to begin with. 

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Start with a new family, and pick the "detail item" template.

@EliotCHHH7 wrote:

 In reading through the comments I also dont understand if you are saying you build a box and then just change the width of the hatch.

Then you can probably disregard this part.  

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@EliotCHHH7 wrote:

. Im trying to fill or apply shading "filled region" to  irregular shapes within my family so Im not following the resizing the geometry part of this either. 

thank you!

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In Revit 2023, you can just put the filled region in the family.

In Revit 2022, you have to make a detail region family, put the filled region in that family, and load it into your family (pick "Load into Project").

See attached family where the middle flower has a hatch.