how to hide connectors

[revitworkbench]

Hi, so I vaguely remember that this is possible because I can remember doing it, but I have since forgot. So what i have is a unit with pipe connections on either side that I want to hide one or the other. The physical connectors are easy to hide but the system connector symbols still show up. See attached. I want to hide these connector elements when the physical part they are attached to is hidden. Isnt that possible, I seem to remember it is, but I dont remember how. please advise. Thanks.

[robert.klempau]

Hello @revitworkbench,

Unfortunately, you can't hide the Revit connectors.

Please Vote on this Idea: MEP Connector Visibility YES/NO

There was a method to hide connector in Revit 2013 and earlier versions but unfortunately, that method is gone in Revit 2014, 2015 and 2016. 

The Good news is that it is back in Revit 2017.

I will upload a Video where I show you how to do this.

[robert.klempau · Accepted solution]

Hello @revitworkbench,

Here is the Video I promised.

In the video, you see how I create a family where I can switch between a hot water and a cold water connector.

The principle is that you need an array of 3 geometry items and place the connector on the third item.  

when you set the number of the array the third element disappears and your connector is gone. 

And if you set the distance between the elements to 0 you have the connector in the same place when you switch the number from 3 to two.

Note: the minimum number far an array is 2.

So in this Video i created a new family and put some parameters in it for connector geometry material, length and diameter of the connector, array numbers and the distance for the array. The last one is handy but not necessarily needed.

Cold water connector:

1. create a geometry family for the connector and place that one in the origin of your main family. (parameters: diameter, material, length)
2. connect the parameters to the parameters in your main family
3. create an array of 3 elements to the right.
4. click the array dimension and add the Integer parameter n_cold to it.
5. place a dimension between the reference line and the reference line in the family and connect the dimension to the length parameter distance.
6. place the cold water connector on the third element of the array and set the System Classification to Domestic Cold Water and set the other parameters the way you want.

Hot water connector:

1. do the same as for the Cold water connector but now array the geometry to the left.
2. create de default type and see to it that both parameters 'cold water' and 'hot water' are turned on.
3. create two new types and set the Yes/No parameters 'cold water' and 'hot water' for every type.
4. set the Type default as the default type and save the family.

Now you can load the family into your project and play with it.

have fun 🙂

Note 1: 

Leave the default Type, where you see all the connectors and where all the array numbers are set to 3, in your family and set it as the default when saving. If not, your family will break and you lose you connector switch functionality.

Note 2:

You can use this method for every connector type.

be creative. 🙂

Note 3:

This is a workaround but it would be great is we had the possibility to have more control over the Revit connectors like turning them on and off the way you make geometry visible or invisible.

And what about the control over the System classification and flow direction, etc.

Well, there is an Idea from @ViviNyehuusAndersen called MEP Connector Visibility YES/NO" please Vote for this one.

The more votes and motivations the higher the change Autodesk will look at this.

So please Vote, Vote, Vote, and motivate ! 🙂

[fabiosato]

Hello Robert,

This is a fantastic workaround, thank you for sharing!!

[Secttor]

Yes.. sadly in 2015 won't work. Changing the array from 3 to 2..makes the connector fly away. Probably something happened in 2017 in terms of connector position (placed on geometries with arrays). 

[robert.klempau]

Hello @Secttor,

This functionality worked fine in Revit versions before 2014.

We made a lot of content for our manufacturers based on this principle.

This manufacturer had products with many options to to connect to. More or less connectors.

But then with the Revit 2014 version Autodesk changed something in Revit and through which this principle did not work.

Well this is a workaround so we definitely need more controle over the connectors.

So as I mentioned before, there is an Idea from @vivinyehuushansen4112 called MEP Connector Visibility YES/NO" please Vote for this one.

The more votes and motivations the higher the change Autodesk will look at this.

So please Vote, Vote, Vote, and motivate ! 🙂

[ViviNyehuusAndersen]

Still not fixing my issues, unfortunately. So I can´t vote sorry.

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[Secttor]

It's not a matter of vote finally.. it's a gap in Revit which must be tolerated ( I don't think that something will change for it).

[ViviNyehuusAndersen]

Maybe nothing will change, it’s possible.

And I might being a bit grumpy, but I was expecting something else on the idea site.

I thought that it was a place to give idea to Autodesk, so that they could fix whatever is not working.

Not another discussion forum, where people can tell all the many workarounds on have to make every day in Revit.

[revitworkbench]

Very, very clever! Thanks! Does it have to be a nested connector that you array? Or does it work with geometry as well?

[NateBrush]

When we run our ideas by Autodesk and don't get answers over the years, at least we have the ideas of our peers to fill in the gaps.

[RobDraw]

Autidesk provides a couple forums for that. 

[j_feeke]

To bad they solved the workaround 😞

[Slawomir_P]

To hide connectors just associate them with the solid geometry which will be delete after requested condition will be true:

For example associate round extrusion dimension or length with parameter which value will be 0 when we select yes/no parameter for connector visibility.

[Slawomir_P]

My example:

[j_feeke]

Although that is true, it doesnt really work correctly. The connectors will not be vissible but will be assignable from within projects.

[Trev_Smith]

I've just created a simple work around for this type of scenario.

My example is a grille that has a yes/no visibility option to have a neck adaptor fitted.

The default grille connector is rectangular to enable connecting a rectangular duct or plenum (cushion head box) or for the grille to have a neck adaptor with a round connector to connect flexible duct directly to the grille.

To do this I have a Yes/No parameter to hide the Neck Adapter, but that leaves the circular connector as the one that would get selected. So I have a simple length parameter for the face that the connector is set too that resets to zero moving the connector into the model behind the rectangular connector. So the Rectangular connector will now be the one that gets selected when connecting other components.

I got this idea from a post noting to move the connector back into the model.

Seems to work ok and is pretty simple to do.

A visibility option would be far better though.

[ViviNyehuusAndersen]

@Trev_Smith

I'm sorry, but that's far from what we need.
The connector is still there, which means an unconnected calculation point in Revit.
It is important that we become able to turn these on and off.

I've done workarounds as well, so the connector moves around on the sides of a heating radiator, but on some families, I need one or more connector instances to be there or not.

[iainsavage]

On radiators with multiple connection options you can cap off the ones that are not being used (which is what would happen in real life using a plug fitting).

Or create different families for each option.

Its not a substitute for what you want but workarounds in Revit are a necessary evil if you want to complete your projects because even when changes are made by Autodesk it takes years to happen, if ever.

[ViviNyehuusAndersen]

I dont want to waste time on adding caps.

I real life it's not diffident types so that's not an option do to quantities.

Time consuming classification coding.

so that's way i've created them so it's possible to move them around with a integer. 

Im still counting on Autodesk to wake up🙈