Total height Project parameter manipulation

[silviu.bunu]

Hello to all,

I have the attached family made for a client and he wants that the Total height should be manipulated in the project properties manually. I want to let you know that the base plate and column families have multiple types and in the final family those families are connected with labels. So if I change the type everything works exactly as I want. The only thing which I want is to have access to the overall height in the project properties. Also, the base plate and top plate are structural framings, and the column is a structural column, on which in the final family I attached the base plate and top plate. There is a way to manipulate the total length of the steel structure in the project properties and keep the types changes at the same time?

Please be aware that the family was made in Revit 2021 version.

Also if you are able to find a solution to my question could you please post the exact steps of how you managed to do it if is not too much to ask?

Thank you in advance for any support.

[L.Maas]

There is no way. Revit is in general based on a "parent-child" relationship. This means the parent determines what happens in the child, not the other way around. So basically there is no way that a family reads and acts on the information from the project.

Some things to consider, depending on your needs. You have a generic two level based family template that might be useful. Other route might be to make use of Dynamo. With a script you can read information and then input that into the family

[RDAOU · Accepted solution]

@silviu.bunu 

Do the following:

1. Change the Column H to non-reporting (Type or Instance to your liking)
2. Edit the nested Column Family and change the Parameter Height to Instance
3. Load the column back to the Host family and Over Write
4. Select the Column and Associate Height from the properties panel to the Column H

When you load into project, you will be able to manipulate the height of the column...

Alternatively, you can add plate (top/base) thicknesses and over all Height as parameters and then use a formula to calculate the height of the column (Over all Height - Top Plate - Base Plate) => in the project you control it using the Over all Height parameter