1) To create a curtain wall tag family that looks identical to the standard window tag, copy the hexagon tag symbol from the window tag family into a new curtain wall tag family. 2) Add two family types (exterior and interior) to the curtain wall tag family and create parameters to control the visibility of different tag symbols (hexagon and pentagon) for each type. 3) Assign the parameters to the symbols to switch between an exterior hexagon tag and interior pentagon tag when changing the family type in the project.

1. REVIT DRAFTING PROCEDURE
1) To workwith coordinatedDisciplines
OpenRevit—start Button—options—File locations—OpenRevit library—
Templates—India—choose “systemsDefault Metric”—Ok
Projects—open“SystemsDefaultMetric”—PropertiesBox—Discipline
“Architectural”—Apply
To add ArchitecturalDiscipline
Top tool bar—View—createtab—Planviews—Floor plans—new floor
plan—Edit type—untickbox —architectural plans—Discipline filter—
Architectural—Discipline: Architectural , Sub Discipline : Floor plan—
apply—ok—ok—untick“do not duplicate” box—SelectLevel1,Level 2—
apply—ok

2. Or
Project Browsers—Views(Discipline)—Architectural—Floor Plans—
Apply Template Properties

3. Type “Floor plans”
Apply Properties—Ok

4. Rename 1-mech to “Site Plan”
2) To add new floor plans

6. 3) To add Elevationviews in Architectural Discipline

7. Or
Duplicate “North-
Mech“

8. Repeat same procedure for south, east & west elevations
4) To add Levels in Architectural Discipline
North Elevation—Select layer—copy—paste—Rename levels—Edit levels

9. 5) Locate the Project Base Point, True north & Project North
With the First Level Plan opened. Go to Visibility/Graphics Overrides (VG). In the Model
Categories > Site > CHECK “Project Base Point”.

10. Degree angle*
If True North is on the right side of your model,
enter a negative degree number. If True North is on
the left side of your model, enter a positive degree
number.

11. 6) Insert cad files
Insert -- Import Cad -- choose cad file – positioning: auto origin to origin – untick
current view only
7) Unit Settings
UN—Length—Feet & Fractional Inches-rounding to near 1/16”—Area—Sq.ft—
Rounding to 0 decimal—Ok

12. 8) Alternate dimensionunit Settings

13. 9) ViewRange

14. 10)To create Toposurface by importing contour data

15. 11)To drawwall
Architecture—Wall—Wall:Architectural

17. 12)To drawStructural RCC Column
Insert—Load Family—RevitLibraries—US imperials—Structural
columns—Concrete—Selectall column types—open

18. Revit—
Structure —column—
Properties —Drop
down list—choose
columntype

19. 13)To drawStructural RCC beam
Insert—Load Family—RevitLibraries—US imperials—Structural
framing—Concrete—Selectall beam types—open
Revit—Structure —Beam—Properties —Drop downlist—choose
Beam type
14)Proper way to save the Revit Model for Consultants use
This is a common question for most Revit Newbies. Should I send the Central
file or my local file to our consultants? The answer is No to both. Your model
needsto be Detached from Centralbefore it is good for your consultantsuse.
Here are the steps I do to preparethe modelfor sending.
1. Have the whole team “Synchronize” their local files to Central and close the
file.
2. Open the Central File. Check “Detach from Central” & “Audit”, uncheck
“Create New Local”.
3. Once you click Open, a dialog box will pop up. Select Detach & preserve
worksets.

20. 4. “Purge” unused objects in the model. Go to Manage tab > Purge
Unused (under Settings panel).
5. Removeunused Links. Go to Manage tab > Manage Links (under Manage
Project panel). Click through the tabs to removeall the links (AutoCAD and
Revit Links)from the file.
6. Save the file. Save As > Project > Options > Check “Make this a Central
File” and “CompactFile”.
15)Customize RevisionSchedule Header
Revit offered very limited ability to customizethe Revision Schedule. I
received an email from blog reader Jayantif there is a way to work around
this limitation.
There are only 6 fieldsavailable to choose from in the Revision Properties
box. I have written a blog post beforeon how to take advantageof it
to Customizethe Revision Number. To take it onestep further, instead of
usingthese fields as it is intended, wecan also renamethese fields to fit your
project need.

21. Customize Titleblock
With your Titleblock family opened, go to Project Browser, expand
the Views > Schedules >select RevisionSchedule.
Next go to Properties >Other > click the Edit button next to Formatting.

22. Select the field you wantto rename, inputa new namein the Headingbox. (In
this example, I selected the RevisionDescription field and changed it to
Drawn By.) Click OK when you aredone.
Now, save the family and load it back to your Projectfile.

23. Edit Revision in the Project
Open up the Revisions, go to the Descriptioncolumn and typein the data
you wanted to appear in the Drawn by column. Click OK when you are done.
16)Create two sets ofAnnotation Symbol Tags within the same Family
Have you noticed some of the annotation symbol you use changes from one
symbolto another when you switch between Family Types? The visibility of
the graphic symbolcan easily be controlled by addinga few Family Typesand
Parameters.

24. I am going to use the Curtain Walltag family that I discussed in the previous
post Create Curtain Walltag looks identical to Window tag for this tutorial.
Say you wanted to tag both the Exterior and Interior curtain wall / storefront,
but wanted to use differentsymbolto distinguish them. My goal is to create
a Hexagon symbolasthe Exterior tag and Pentagon symbolasthe Interior tag.
Create the symbols
First, I opened up the curtain wall tag that wascreated following the tutorial
in the previous post. Currently thereis only a hexagon symbol insidethe
family. I will need to create a Pentagon symbol. Go to Create tab >
Line (under Detail Panel)to draw the pentagon. Draw the pentagon symbol
on top of the hexagon.
Create New Family Types
From the Create tab, click on Family Types (under PropertiesPanel). In the
Family Types window, click Family Types > New. Weneed to create two new
family types: Exterior & Interior. (You arefree to namethe typesanything
you want.)

25. Create New Parameters
Next, we will create two new Parameters. These Parameters will be used to
control the visibility of the hexagon and pentagon symbolfor each Family
Type. In the same Family Typeswindow, click Parameters >Add.
Create an Exteriorand InteriorParameter followingthe image below.

26. Once the Parametersare created, you will see these parameters are now
available for your usein the Family Types. Each Family Typesshould contain
the same list of parameters. Next, select
the Exterior Type, checkthe Exterior Parameter; select
the Interior Type, checkthe Interior Parameter.
Assign the Parameter to elements in the Family Model
Weare now ready to assign the Parameter we justcreated to the element in
the Family model. In this case, the element will be our Hexagon and Pentagon.
Select the Hexagon, next, go to Properties and click the grey box next
to Graphics | Visible. In the Associate Family Parameter window,
select Exterior from the list of Parameter. What I am doinghere is to tell
Revit to associate the Hexagon symbolwith the Exterior Family Typewe
definitejust now.

27. Wewill do the samething to the Pentagon symbol. Select the Pentagon, go
to Properties and click the grey box next to Graphics | Visible. In the
Associate Family Parameter window, select Interior from the list of
Parameter.
17)Create Curtain Wall Tag looks identical to Window Tag

28. I received a request from a blog subscriber asking how to create a window tag
for the curtain wall. Curtain wall is a “wall” family. When we tag the curtain
wall, Revit will automatically give us a wall tag symbol (The diamond
symbol is the wall tag symbol, the hexagon is the window tag symbol). Of
course, we don’t want to use the wall tag symbol to tag our curtain wall. A
smart reader like you will probably wonder if we need to create a new
annotation family. You are absolutely correct! We need to create a new wall
tag family to disguise as curtain wall tag. I know some people get nervous
editing family. I am going to show you how to create a super easy annotation
tag. I hope your fear will go away after this tutorial or maybe getting more
comfortable editing/creating family. This annotation is a good family to keep
in your Family library for future projects. Let’s get started!
I have created a window (left)and a curtain wall (right) sideby side for quick
reference. I quickly tag them and you willsee Revit gives mea window tagon
the window and awall tag on the curtain wall. Keep in mind that all tagsare
associated to the Family Categories**, i.e., a window tag can only be used to
tag window, anequipment tag can only be used to tag equipment. Withthis
concept in mind, in order to make the curtain wall tag looks identical to the

29. Window tag, we need to create a new Wall Tag symbolto disguise as window
tag.
Create Curtain Wall Tag
In the Revit model, select the Wall tag, right click > Edit Family. Once the
family opensup, do a quick “Save as” and called it CW tag (or whatever name
that make sense to you). Alwaysdo a “Save as” before any editing, this is to
preventyou from accidentally overwritten the original family.
Copy line work from Window Tag
Weare going to perform acopy and paste exercise. Go back to your project.
This time we select the window tag, right click > Edit Family to open up the
Window tagfamily. Select the hexagon line work, then go to Modify |

30. Lines > Copy to Clipboard (under Clipboard panel). Closethis family when
you are done, no need to save this family.
Paste the Window tag line work to the Curtain Wall tag
Switch back to the CW tag family. Delete the diamond shapeline work, then go
to Modify > Paste > Aligned to Current View. This will paste the hexagon
line work we copied earlier to here. Now your CW tag should looks identical to
the Window tagsymbol.

31. Save and Load Family
Save the CW tag family and load it into the project.
Replace with Curtain Wall tag
Once loaded, selected the Wall tag, from the Propertiesmenu, select the newly
created CW tag.
That is it! Simple! Creating family is not always a painfulprocess, like the one
above, it is easy! I hope you enjoy this simple tutorial.
QuickNote: Notice my CW tag has 2 typesfor my selection: Exterior and
Interior. This is because the originalwall family tag I used to create this CW
tag already has the Exterior and Interior typedefined in the family. In the next
post, I am going to show you how to create 2 sets of symbolswithin the same
CW family for tagging interior and exterior curtain wall. Stay tune.

32. ** How to checkwhich Family Category doesthe family I am editing
belongsto?
With the family opened, go to Create tab > Family Category and
Parameters.
The Family Category and Parameterswindow opens, the Family Categories is
highlighted in grey.

33. Save and Load Family
Save the family and Load it into the project.
Understand the Concept
Are you confused withwhy we need to create 2 Family Typesand 2
Parameters? An analogy is to look at the Family Typeas a “bag”. The bag is
filled with all the Parameters you havedefined. Each parameter represents

34. width, length, height, material, etc… information about the family model. You
can make the Parameter meaningfulby assigning these parametersto your
family model. You can create as many “bags” as you want with differentwidth,
length, height, materials, etc by changing the parameter data. In our case, we
have two “bags”, the Exterior bag and Interior bag. Insideeach bag, wehave
parametersthat allow us to choose to display the exterior or interior symbol
by checking or uncheckingthe check box. Note: One important thing to keep in
mind: No matter how many parametersyouhave defined inthe family, if youdid
not associate themto the family model, those parametersare meaningless.
Switching Curtain Wall tag
Back in the Project, tag the curtain wall. Next, select the tag, from
the Properties menu, click the pulldown menu to select the CW tag family
you loaded into the project. You should see the two Family typesyou have
created earlier – Exterior and InteriorType– for your selection. Try switching
between the Exterior and Interiortypeto see the symbol changes from one to
another.

36. The Revision Schedule are now customized! Simple!

37. 7. Save the file with the same filename as your original Central File
8. Click the Sync button to relinquish all the worksets and save again. (Thanks to Teri’s comment)
9. Close Revit and delete the backup file
10. You are ready to send the *.rvt file to your consultants.