Autodesk Revit Tutorials, Revit Families, BIM Revit

   
     
     
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Creating Custom Annotation Tags
 

View Tags
Section, callout, and elevation tags are graphic indicators that reference other views in your project. The graphics for these elements can be customized to meet most scenarios. To create a custom sec- tion tag, for example, you have to first create a custom section tag family. To access the view tags, choose Settings View Tags. From here, you can customize a view tag through its Type Properties. By default, there is a predefined view tag for each view type. This can vary depending on the lan- guage version of Revit you have installed on your machine. The tags shown here are displayed and available by default in the USA English version:
iNSERT iMAGE
You can use the existing one, rename it or duplicate it, and amend its properties to create your own custom tag.
The creation of custom view tags differs depending on which view tag you’re working with. Some require you to load a family file (.rfa) that can be fully customized with the Family Editor; others don’t have corresponding family files and allow only limited customization, directly within the project
 
Section View Tags
Before selecting a section tag, you can load multiple section tags from the family library. For example, you may decide to use different section tags for building sections and wall sections, and maybe even different tags for presentation plans than for construction documents. To implement these options in your project, you need to create each set of tags and load them into the project environ- ment so they’re available to select from the tag’s Type Properties. All the section tags are defined in Settings View Tags Section Tags. In the Type Properties dialog that appears, you can find the following parameters.
Section Head With this parameter, you can select different symbols for the section head.
The drop-down list contains all loaded section view tag families (RFA files). Note that you can create your own fully customized section head using the Family Editor. Once selected from the list, the section head family appears at the beginning of the section line.

Section Tail In some countries, a section line is described with the same symbol at the
begin- ning and the end; in others, a section head appears on only one end of a section line, and at the other end is a section tail (a simplified graphic). This parameter lets you select the tail graphic; like the section head, this symbol can be fully custom-created in the Family Editor and loaded as a family (RFA file). Once selected from the list, the section head family appears at the begin- ning of the section line.

Broken Section Display Style It’s usual practice when documenting a building to make
non- linear sections—sections that change direction and cut through the more important aspects of the design. With the section line selected, and using the Split Segment tool from the Options Bar, you can split a section in many segments. This property allows for graphical definition of the segmented section line. There are two options: Continuous and Gapped (dotted lines).
 
When you select the section line, a small break symbol appears in the middle of it (see Figure 4.21
Figure 4.21
Click the break icon in the middle of the section line to split the line		  
Creating a Custom Section Tag
To create your own section tag, you first need to select the tag family to which your new tag will belong. You have two options:
Text In the Family Editor, placing text in an annotation or title block means you’re defining text
that will always be the same and is unchangeable when that annotation is placed in the project environment. Figure 4.22 shows the words AREA and VOLUME as text. Regardless of where this room tag is placed, the text will always say AREA and VOLUME. Section tags work the same way: If you add static text, that text appears exactly the same for all section marks. This isn’t typically used for sections, because each section is a reference to a unique view, and you want that infor- mation to be dynamic and parametric. That is where label functionality comes into play.
Figure 4.22
A custom room tag showing room name, number, area, and volume		  
Labels A label offers textual information, but unlike static text, it’s a live reference to a
param- eter value of an element in the project. It pulls information about a parameter directly from the BIM model. So, if you add an Area label, it will pull the value of the Area of the room, if you add a Sheet Number label in a Section Head family in the Family Editor environment and then use that section head in a project, the label will automatically display the actual sheet number on which this section is placed in the project. If you move the section from one sheet to another; the label will automatically report the new sheet number.
 
In Figure 4.22, Unit 4 is a label of the room name; the number 201 is a label of the room number. The label behaves as a dynamic text and is always fully coordinated with the value of the param- eter it represents.
Like text, labels have graphical properties such as height, color, and font.
 
Creating a Custom Section Tag Family
An exercise will clarify what we just discussed. Imagine you would like to create a section tag that looks like the one shown in Figure 4.23. You need to create it first as a section tag family in the Family Editor and then load it into your template before you can create the tag in the project. Follow these steps:
Figure 4.23
Custom section tag		  
  • Choose File New Annotation Symbol.
  • In the Open dialog, select the family called Section Head.rft or M_Section Head.rft, and click Open.
  • The Family Editor environment automatically opens, and the drawing area shows a view in which three green reference planes (two vertical and one horizontal) have already been drawn. Do not change the position of the horizontal reference plane nor of the vertical ref- erence on the right. In some templates, this is indicated with help text in red (which can you later remove):

    Intersection of horizontal & right ref planes define connection location with system section line. This means that your annotation will be located on the intersection.

    A proposed geometric shape is drawn for the annotation: a circle (two arcs) and a horizontal line. You’re free to delete this default geometry and create your own tag shape. The default shape is there to help you visually understand where to begin drawing your new tag geometry.
  • Select the arcs that create the circle (use the Ctrl key for faster selection), and delete them.
  • Click the Label button in the Design bar. Position your mouse between the two vertical reference planes and below the horizontal plane, and click to position the start of the label. The cursor changes as shown here
InsertImage
  • In the dialog box, select Sheet Number. In the Value group, you can enter a value; the default is A101.
Insert image
This isn’t an actual value that will be displayed—it’s a sample value that is visible only in the Family Editor. The text is a placeholder for an eventual real parameter value and is only here to help as a reference with layout. Once you load the family into a project template or project, this value will be replaced with the actual parameter value pulled from the database of your model. Usually, the proposed value is logical, so you can confirm by clicking OK. The label is placed and displays blue grips when selected. These let you redimension the length of the label. The length is important, because any value that is added (in a project) that is longer than the length of this box will begin to wrap and could mess up your graphics.
  • Following the same principle, place the label Detail Number above the horizontal reference but still between the vertical references.
Insert iamge
  • You can at any time reposition a label by selecting it and using the Move button to move it around. For more precise positioning, use the arrow keys on your keyboard to nudge elements in small increments. You can also help yourself by zooming in for a better view. (Note that zooming in makes the increment for the nudge tools finer.)
  • On the Design bar, click the Filled Region button. You’ll be put into sketch mode. Using the Line tool, draw the shape shown here. Make sure the lines form a closed loop (no gaps or overlapping lines
Insert Image
  • On the Design bar, click Finish Sketch. If you did everything correctly, you should have a custom designed family, as shown here:
Insert image
Save the tag you just created somewhere on your hard drive or network, and you’re ready to use it in the template or a project. To load it into your project, click the Load Into Projects button on the Design bar. Choose the project you want to use the symbol in, and click OK.

In the next exercise, you’ll assign this tag to a section mark in the context of a project.
 
Creating a Section Tag with a Custom Head/Tail Graphic
To create a section type that utilizes the section head family you created previously, you need to load the created section head in the template file:
  • Choose File Load from Library Load Family.
  • In the Open dialog, find the section head you created previously, select it, and click Open.
  • In the Settings dialog, click View Tags Section Tags.
  • In the Properties dialog, select Duplicate.
  • In the Name dialog (Figure 4.24), name the new tag Filled Arrow tag and click OK
Figure 4.24
Give new section view tag a name		  
  • In the section head’s Type Properties dialog, click the drop-down menu and select your custom head family. For Section Tail, click <none>. This means the other end of the section line will be free of any symbol (Figure 4.25). Click OK
Figure 4.25
You just created a new section tag that you now wish to associate with a section type		  
  • In the View menu of the Design bar, select Section.
  • From the Options bar, select Properties.
  • In the Element properties dialog, click Edit/New and then Duplicate.
  • Name the new type Filled Arrow - No Section Tail, and click OK (Figure 4.26)
Figure 4.26
Create a new section type with a unique name		  
  • Under Section Tag, click the drop-down menu, select the tag you created, and click OK. You can now place a section in your drawing area and see the results shown in Figure 4.27.
Figure 4.27
Draw one of your new sections—it should look like this		  
Note that each time you create a new section type, Revit creates a new folder for it in the Project Browser. Our example uses two types of sections: building sections and detail sections. When you place one of each in a project environment, they’re each placed in a new folder named by section type.
As you’ll see next, the same principles apply when you make callout views
 
Callouts
In order to have a variety of different callout tags in the project environment, you need to load some customized tags into the project. The properties of callout tags offer a few options:
Callout Heads This parameter defines the family and the callout type that will be used.
The drop-down list contains all loaded callout head families (RFA files); you can also use no family (None). Using the Family Editor, you can create callout head families just as you can for section heads and tails.

Corner Radius A callout in Revit usually has a rectangular shape with chamfered edges.
This parameter lets you define the radius of those arcs on the corners of the callout tag
 
Creating a Custom Callout Head
Figure 4.28 shows on the left the callout tag family you’ll create in this exercise. Follow these steps:
Figure 4.28
(left) Custom callout annotation; (right) custom callout anno- tation associated with callout boundary		  
  • Choose File New Annotation Symbol.
  • In the Open dialog, select the family template called Callout head.rft or M_Callout Head.rft, and click Open.
  • The Family Editor opens, and a view with two crossing reference planes appears. Again, if you want to avoid problems later, don’t move either of these two planes. In red, you’ll see important guideline text: Always read it before deleting it. This text informs you that the tag will be positioned in the center of the crossing of the two reference planes and that the call- out leader will trim (be adjusted) to match the width of the drawn elements. Select the help text and delete it.
  • On the Design bar, click the Label button. Click the vertical reference plane and above the horizontal one to position the label.
Insert Image
  • In the dialog that opens, select Detail Number; in the Value zone, you can place a value as explained in step 6 of the exercise in the section, “Creating a Custom Section Tag Family."
Insert Image
  • Following the same principle, add another label—this time using “Sheet Number," position it below the horizontal reference plane.
Insert image
  • On the Design bar, select Filled Region. Revit goes into sketch mode. Using the Line tool, draw the shape that represents the graphic of the callout tag you wish to create. Make sure the filled region uses a solid fill black pattern by editing its Type Properties.
Insert Image
  • Click Finish Sketch on the Design bar.
  • You can also adjust the text to be a different font or font size, if desired. The final appearance of the annotation in the Family Editor should look like this
Insert image
  • Save your callout tag, and load it into your project.
  • In the project, choose Settings View Tags Callouts. Make a new type, or edit an existing type by choosing the family you just loaded in. You need to do this in order to take advan- tage of your custom tag. Simply loading it into your project won’t automatically assign it to a callout
Changing the Graphic Appearance of the Filled Region

You may want to use colors other than black for the filled region, and you may want to make it trans- parent or opaque. This will result in a different graphic presentation when you place the tag in the project and a different graphical presentation when it’s printed, because most reprographics companies don’t print full-size sheets in color
 
Callout Views—Type Properties
The following are the Type Properties of a callout view:
  1. Callout Tag—Lists all available callout tags
  2. Reference Label—The default label for referenced callouts
 
Creating Callout Tags
You’ve already created your Callout Head family. Now you’ll load it in the template file and asso- ciate it with a callout tag:
  • Choose File Load from Library Load Family.
  • In the Open dialog, find the callout head you created previously, select it, and click Open.
  • In the Settings dialog, click View Tags Callout Tags.
  • In the Properties dialog, select Duplicate.
  • In the Name dialog, name the new tag Filled Rectangle, and click OK (Figure 4.29)
Figure 4.29
Give the callout tag type a unique name		  
  • Under Callout Head, click the drop-down list and select your callout family. Under Corner Radius, set the angle that will be applied to the corners of the callout boundary line (Figure 4.30)
Figure 4.30
Choose the callout head, and set the radius for the callout corners		  
  • Click OK. You just created a new callout tag that you can now associate with a callout type.
  • In the View menu of the Design bar, select Callout.
  • From the Options bar, select Properties.
  • In the Element Properties dialog, click Edit/New and then Duplicate. 11. Give the new type a name (Filled Rectangle - Corner radius 3.5mm), and click OK (Figure 4.31).
 
Figure 4.31
Create a new callout view type		  
  • Under Section Tag, click the drop-down list and select the callout tag you created.
  • Click OK
You can now place a callout in your drawing area and see the results shown in Figure 4.32
Figure 4.32
The final appearance of the new callout type		  
Elevation Tags
Unlike all other tags in Revit, elevation tags don’t reference a family file and are customizable only to a limited extent. You can’t create custom elevation tags—the only thing Revit lets you do is choose between a round or square shaped elevation tags and make a few small modifications to those shapes. However, you can create different elevation tags for exterior and interior elevations. Figure 4.33 shows the properties for elevation tags.
Figure 4.33
Elevation tag Type Properties		  
Elevation Tag Properties
The following parameters are available in the Type Properties of elevation tags:

Shape This provides the two possible shapes for elevation tags.
The only possible selections are Circle and Square.

Text Position Each elevation tag allows text to show the number of the view when placed on
a sheet. This value is empty until that elevation view is placed on a sheet. You can also decide to add the name of the view to the elevation tag. This can make the tag busy and illegible, so consider your options carefully. Figure 4.34 shows the options from left to right: Outside Left, Outside Center, Outside Right, and at the end Inside. In the last case, it’s preferable for better legibility to select an empty arrowhead.
Figure 4.34
Elevation variations, left to right: Outside Left, Outside Center, Outside Right, Inside		  
Arrow Angle The arrow indicates the direction of the view, and this parameter controls the
angle of the arrow
Insert Image
Filled This fills or doesn’t fill the arrow associated with the tag. Depending on your
graphical requirements, you may want to have the arrow filled or empty.
InsertImage
Show View Name This parameter allows you to add the information about the name of the
view in the elevation tag.

View Name Position If you’ve decided to add the view name in the elevation tag, this param-
eter allows you to control the position of the name.

Reference Label Position This parameter controls the position of the reference label with
respect to the tag. Figure 4.35 shows the different positions, from left to right: Outside Left, Outside Center, Outside Right
Figure 4.35
The name of the eleva- tion can appear on each arrow		  
Line Weight This parameter defines the weight of the lines used for the entire tag.
The Line Weight value can be any number from 1 to 16.

Color This parameter defines the color of the lines.

Line Pattern This parameter defines the line pattern for lines used in the tag.

Text Font This parameter defines the font used in the tag.

Text Size This parameter defines the height of the text used in the tag.

Width This parameter defines the size of the shape: If you choose Circle, this value is the diam-
eter; if the tag is square, this is the size of the square
As we mentioned previously, elevation tags are the only tags in Revit for which you can’t create your own graphics using the Family Editor. For example, many firms use the same symbol for sec- tions as they do for exterior building elevations. A common workaround to this problem is to use sections in lieu of elevations to get the right graphic appearance.
This workaround works well and is simple. The only downside is that your building elevations will be grouped with sections in the Project Browser
 
Elevation View Type Properties
The following parameters are available as elevation Type Properties
Elevation Tag This parameter lists all available elevation tags in the project. You create eleva-
tion tags in the Settings View Tags Elevation Tags dialog.

Callout Tag This parameter lists all available callout tags in the project. You create callout tags
in the Settings View Tags Callout Tags dialog.

Reference Label This parameter defines the default label for referenced elevations.
 
Creating an Elevation Tag
Unlike section and callout tags, to create a new elevation tag you don’t need to load an elevation family, because there are none. As we mentioned previously, elevation tags are the only ones you can’t fully customize, and no elevation tag family template exists in the Family Editor. You can change the appearance of the elevation tag to a degree, and then you associate it with a new eleva- tion view type. Follow these steps:
  • In the Design bar’s View menu, select Elevation.
  • From the Options bar, select Properties.
  • In the Element Properties dialog, click Edit/New and then Duplicate.
  • Give the new type a name (Interior), and click OK
Insert Image
  • Under Elevation Tag, click the drop-down list and select the elevation tag you created.
  • Click OK
You can now place an elevation in your drawing area and see the results as shown here:
Insert Image
 
Assigning a Family to a View Tag
We discussed how to create custom annotation families that are used to create custom tags. To put these annotations to use, you need to assign them to a view tag type. For sections and callouts, you use a section head family and a callout family. To assign an annotation to a section or callout view tag, choose Settings View Tags Section Tags. From there, you can choose what symbols to use for the section head and tail. The same concept is used for callouts.
 
Levels
Levels in Revit are represented with a line and a symbol that can be placed at one or both ends of the level line. Creating level types allows you to define the graphical characteristics of the level line, family symbol, and Z-coordinate system used by the level tags. All these parameters are stored in the level Type Properties; you can create as many as you please
 
Level Properties

The following properties are available for levels
Elevation Base You’ll find two options for Elevation Base: Project and Shared. When you
select Project, the project’s coordinate system is used. When you select Shared, the coordinates correspond to the shared coordinates.

Line Weight This parameter allows you to set the line weight of the level line. Line Weight can
be any number from 1 to 16. These numbers correspond to virtual pens with various thicknesses, which can depend on different scales applied to a view. To review the current settings, choose Settings line weights Annotation line weights.

Color This parameter defines the color of the level line.

Line Pattern This parameter defines the pattern of the line used for the level line.

Symbol This parameter provides a list of all available level symbols that
can be placed at the ends of the level lines. This list shows all level head family files currently loaded into your project. Just as with other tag families, you can create custom level tags and load them in your template. To create a custom level tag family, you need to use the correct family template: Level Head or M_Level Head.rft.
For the level tags shown in Figure 4.36, we created a custom level tag family and selected it in the custom level tag

Figure 4.36
Level tags can be fully customized.

  
Symbol at End 1/2 Default These options allow you to define whether to place the level head
symbol at both sides of the level line (in which case this and the next option should be selected) or just one of them. End 1 is the start point when you draw the level line; End 2 is the end point
 
Grids

The principle of customizing and creating grid types is similar to that of levels. The one parameter that grids don’t have is Elevation Base. You can fully customize the appearance of a grid line, design your own symbol family, and define these in the Type Properties of grids. For custom symbols, there is a Grid Head.rft or M_Grid head.rft family template to use when you need to create your own