Should I Use Revit for this Project?

It isn't a surprising question, it's asked often. I wrote a post before called "Yeah but". That's the kind of response that often comes after answering the question with, "Yeah, you should".

"Yeah but... the architect isn't using Revit, the engineers aren't using Revit, we don't really need 3D for this project, this project doesn't have the margin, this project is fast track, this project isn't big enough, this project is too big"... and so on.

A recent one I heard was, "The architect isn't using Revit, should we use Revit MEP for this project?"

When Revit Systems was released in 2006, the essence of Autodesk's marketing commentary was, "this is new software so it probably doesn't make sense to tackle a project with it unless the architecture team is using Revit too." I don't think it is still true six years later. Sure we benefit from the modelling effort in architecture and structure but we can still benefit from the effort without them.

Is this our first project using Revit? - If yes, then maybe this project isn't the ideal first project.

Otherwise, assuming we are comfortable with Revit, then why not? Is it a valid question for architects? As in, "We aren't going to use Revit because the engineers are not using it." There wasn't a Revit Structure or MEP when Revit was introduced.

There is a lot more to Revit than just 3D. Why assume that there is no value in creating a model of the MEP scope of work even if the architect doesn't use Revit? We will still be able to compare our model against 2D documentation by importing various 2D CAD views into the model. We can still export to 2D files for them to do the same. Why assume that we won't learn anything from doing so? We don't have to assume the burden of modelling the architecture or structure to get something out of the effort. Every project has some, or more often many, surprises. Modeling a project reveals more than doing one in 2D. Just try creating a model using only 2D documents as the guide.

When considering this I think it is important to be careful which measuring stick is being used. Is it measured according to the technical drafting staff, the project engineer or manager, the firm, the project or the owner? If we measure too closely to who performs a single task we lose sight of the bigger picture, the downstream ramifications of our choices. Revit challenges our assumptions and process. More often than not I hear decisions being based on a notion of "us and them" in the equation. Adversarial business relationships don't make it easy to ensure a great result.

Given the chance, I'm betting that using Revit on any project (assuming some responsible preparation is in place) will ultimately prove to have been worthwhile, often in the least anticipated ways. I think this fits, "we don't know what we don't know". I find I stumble into what I don't know more often in 3D than in 2D.

Revit 2013 - Suppress Spaces in Dimensions

Revit 2013 changes the means to reduce the overall size of the text displayed in a dimension string, particularly noticeable to people using imperial units. It was tied to the project units and you had to alter a dimension style to not use the project units settings in order to use it.

This is the new location for the option, found in the Type Properties for a dimension style.

This means your dimension styles can continue to depend on the Project Units as well as suppress the spaces in dimension values. A subtle but more logical approach I think.

However in testing it appears to be broken... The option for Suppress Spaces exists in the the Project Units dialog. If I turn on the feature it affects dimension styles downstream and the option in the dimension style should then work as an option to remove it but it doesn't do anything. Odd...

Shared Coordinate Post Summary

Updated: 6/28/2023

This is a summary of posts I've written about shared coordinates and related posts. They are listed from the most recent to the oldest. That doesn't necessarily reflect their relevance based on age at all.

2023 Revit 2021.1 Reset Shared Coordinates
2018 Cannot Publish Coordinates

2017 Revit Coordinate Systems Video
2017 Linked DWG and Named UCS
2017 Clipped or Un-Clipped - That is the Question
2017 Shared Coordinates - Autodesk Reference Information
2017 20 Mile Threshold on Import
2017 Reset Shared Coordinates Update
2017 Revit 2018 GEO Reference and Shared Coordinates

2016 Publish Coordinates and Inter-related Linked Files
2016 BIM Workshop Sessions and Data
2016 Multi-Discipline Shared Coordinates
2016 Survey Point Values after using Publish Coordinates

2015 Revit 2016 R2 - Positioning by Auto - Project Base Point to Project Base Point
2015 Transparent Elevations and Large Coordinates
2015 Shared Coordinates and Collaboration for Revit
2015 Revit 2016 - Rotate Project North
2015 Link Positioning Manual - Base Point
2015 Survey Point - Post 4 - Acquiring Coordinates and View Orientation
2015 Survey Point - Post 3 - Five Minutes with Shared Coordinates
2015 Survey Point - Post 2
2015 Survey Point 1
2015 Follow Up - Importing DWG Files Using By Shared Coordinates
2015 Toposurface from a Text File
2015 Using Shared Coordinates - Do Not Remove the Link

2014 Importing CAD Files and By Shared Coordinates
2014 Relocate Project is Sleight of Hand
2014 Confirm Acquire Coordinates (wish)

2013 Basic Survey and Model Coordination
2013 Acquiring Coordinates between Trades
2013 Project Base Point Manipulation
2013 Transfer Project Standards and Shared Coordinates
2013 Moving the Project Base Point
2013 Coordinating Projects Using Shared Coordinates
2013 Lock Down Shared Coordinates

2012 Reset Shared Coordinates
2012 Revit Level and Elevations
2012 DWG Files and Funky Snapping

2011 Location Location Location
2011 Shared Coordinates and Copy Monitor
2011 Project Coordination - Early Days

2009 Autodesk University Virtual Shared Coordinates Class
2009 Shared Coordinates Features Disabled
2009 Starting Projects - Two Pieces of Advice

2008 Shared Coordinates and Other Trades
2008 CAD Surveys and your Revit Project
2008 Acquire Coordinates Confirm

2006 True Elevation and Position

Building Design Suite Installation Readme

If you are preparing for installing the 2013 Revit products via the Building Design Suites then you might want to start with the System Requirements PDF documents for each version.

Standard
Premium
Ultimate

You'll also want to read the Installation Overview and FAQ

Revit 2013 - Repeat and Divide Subtlety

For people experimenting with these new concepts and feature... I picked this item up recently.

If you are trying to make things work and running into problems make sure the Adaptive Component (AC) is hosted on nodes of a divided curve or divided surface. It can easily appear like its hosted correctly, but if you look closer you may find it is actually hosted to the curve, not the node. Also, if your AC family contains any Shape handles points, then it won’t repeat. All adaptive points in a family must be Placement points, not Shape Handle points or Reference points.

Read Andy's recent post about experimenting with them.

VisDay Winner Announced

A post last week at the RTC Blog offered the chance to attend VisDay for free if you took the effort to submit your reason for attending. I mentioned it too, here.

The winner has been announced this morning and the winner is:

Andrew Ness with HASSELL

Andrew wrote that his motivation to attend is: "Real time visualisation using Unreal Engine - Because I want to use this presentation method in my work and learn more about it."

You can read the original post at the RTC Blog too.

Working at Risk

This situation occurs when your Revit session can not find the central file. This could happen through no fault of your own. For example it could happen because the project's server is down, a router is malfunctioning, your network cable was unplugged by the cleaning crew and so on. Of course those would present themselves in other more obvious ways like not being able to get your email, see folders on the server or even log onto the network. It could also be caused by someone deleting the central file, the central file's backup folder, someone saving over the central file or some other nefarious circumstance.

It can also be caused by taking your local file home with you. When you open a Revit project, that has had worksets enabled, Revit "talks" with the central file. If it can't find it you'll get an error message.

That's your first warning that things aren't safe to continue working. At this point I encourage you to stop, see if you can find out what's wrong, assuming you don't already know. If you push forward and try to alter something in the file, using element borrowing, you'll get this message.

That message is preventing you from using element borrowing. If you really want to continue to work at risk you'll need to open the Workset dialog and make the workset the element is assigned to editable, which makes you the Owner of the workset. You won't be able to do this either without getting another warning dialog.

If you click Yes you'll be able to do what you want with any elements assigned to the workset you've made editable (you are the owner of the workset). This is where things will go very wrong. If someone else does this too or still has a valid connection to the central file you are working "at risk". As soon as another person does something that Revit has either given them permission to do or creates a conflict of ownership somehow...the first person to resolve it will win...the rest will lose.

If you must go down this road you need to discuss what you need to do with the other people working on the project so they either stay away long enough for you to get things done or agree to be very careful about what they do. Go slowly, methodically...carefully.

Other Workset Topics to Read

Five Minutes with a Toposurface

I created a video to describe what happens when Revit contours don't quite match up with the underlying cad file contours that were used to generate a toposurface. The first part of the video explains that the Site Settings usually don't match the contour interval settings of the cad source file. Changing these settings is often enough.

When we want Revit to provide more contours than the source file provides it can but that's where we start getting some distortion of the contour lines we see. The rest of the video shows how to manipulate the contour lines with additional points to help Revit sort it all out.

Keep in mind that Revit creates triangles between points. You can see these if you use Visibility/Graphics to turn them on.

This is what the triangulation looks like before adding an extra point to help Revit draw the contour more accurately.

This is what the triangulation looks like after adding the extra point.

Here's the video embedded or watch it at OpEd Videos or You Tube instead.

Delete Sheets In Browser or Schedules

Rooms and areas can be deleted in model views like floor plans and ceiling plans. Revit warns us that they have been deleted from the model but they are still listed in schedules. To really delete them we have to open a schedule view and delete them there. That is intended to make it easier to place them elsewhere in the model without having to recreate them from scratch if their current location needs to be changed.

We can also create rooms and areas in a schedule view before there are any walls or boundaries available to define where they should go. Revit just reports "not placed" until we put them somewhere. We can do the same thing with sheets, they are called placeholder sheets.

The contrast or inconsistency compared with rooms and areas is that you can delete the sheet from the Project Browser and it is removed from the sheet list (schedule). It wouldn't be too unexpected to think that deleting the sheet should leave it in the database as a placeholder, kind of like rooms and areas?

Whadya think?

Win a Free VisDay Pass

This may be of interest to anyone already planning to attend RTC in Wollongong next month since you'll be in town already. RTC also hopes that if you are part of the visualization community you'll be interested too! RTC is running a competition to award a free pass to this new focused event, just have to put fingers to your keyboard and send a quick email to be eligible, read on if you are curious.

What is VisDay?

VisDay is the premier forum on advances in computer generated visualisation for the architecture, engineering and construction industries, and is collocated to the renowned RTC event. The powerful line-up of speakers includes Lon Grohs the Vice President of Chaos Group from Bulgaria, SHW group, HKS and VEO from the United States and local talent from Flood Slicer and Atomic 3D.

VisDay will be held on Wednesday 23 May at Novotel Wollongong Northbeach, NSW, Australia. Further details can be found on the WEBSITE

To be eligible for a single complimentary general admission ticket to VisDay we ask for your feedback on attending VisDay. i.e.

Tell us in 25 words or less... What aspect of VisDay are you most interested in?

The Prize includes registration to VisDay 2012 Australasia on Wednesday 23 May at Novotel Wollongong Northbeach. Complimentary scheduled transfers are available from Sydney city and Sydney Domestic Airport. Prize does not include other travel or accommodation.

All submissions are required by Monday 30 April, the winning entry will be decided by the VisDay Committee and will be notified on Wednesday 2 May.

Please email your submission to SECRETARY at RTC Events noting Revit OpEd as the source blog. Please ensure you check back onto the RTC blog as well as this blog after May 2nd to see if you are a winner. Winning comments will be posted on the blog site along with the winners name.

Beware the Double Click in Revit 2013

I've seen a post at AUGI now and received a couple emails disparaging the new feature, "Double Click a Family to Edit Family". Cool right? In the example at AUGI it isn't much fun when you click too quickly on your sheet's title block to edit a parameter and you end up opening the family instead. Slow down buckaroo! Click...pause...click

The emails were just asking me if this is supposed to happen, yep...new feature. This one may fall into the "Careful what you ask for." category or maybe the "Seemed like a good idea at the time." department.

Be careful double clicking out there folks.

Extents Greater than 20 Miles

This message appears when you import a DWG file that has geometry that makes the total extents of the file larger than 20 (33 km)miles horizontally or vertically.

That message is different from this message.

The second message occurs when all the geometry in the file is farther away from the origin than Revit wants it to be, but the extent of geometry is not large enough to trigger the first warning. What that magical distance or number is, who knows. I've spent quite a bit of time trying to pin that down. The closest I've come is that when I have some geometry that is between 43,500 and 50,000 feet away from the origin of the DWG file Revit will complain. The problem with pinning it down is that as soon as I think I've got it, I change it a little and then Revit doesn't complain about importing the file. Suffice it to say that if all the geometry is pretty far away from the origin, there is a pretty good chance that you'll see that message. It isn't as far away as the first error message though (20 miles), it's more like 8ish miles.

If a file is too large to import when you've selected the correct units you can technically circumvent it by importing with different units. For example if Inches are too big, try Feet. The file will like import. Then you can reset the Units of the file and reset the scale value to 1. The file will be the correct size again. It won't prevent the graphical issues that really large DWG import can cause though. Your mileage may vary.

Another technique that has worked is to link the big file into another file as an Attached overlay. Then import the file that hosts the big one. Revit doesn't look at the Xref and doesn't complain.

Reset Shared Coordinates

Edit 11/28/2017: Also read THIS more Recent POST.

There isn't an easy button to just eliminate shared coordinates in a project. You can move the Survey Point back to the same spot as the Project Base Point and then use Specify Coordinates at Point to reset the coordinates the file is using. Sounds like I just countered my first statement?

I'm referring to the relationship between files when you use Acquire Coordinates or Publish Coordinates. Once two files are sharing coordinates you can't really remove this relationship. If you remove the link and import it again (Auto - Origin to Origin) the relationship survives. For example you can try to Acquire Coordinates from the file again to "reset" them and Revit will say that it is already sharing coordinates with the file.

To remove (really more like replace) the relationship I use a new (empty) file that is based on the stock Revit template default.rte. I import this file and Acquire Coordinates from it instead. Revit can only acquire coordinates from one source file so using a different file resets it to match this new file. Now it is possible to acquire them from the original file after removing the C/M relationship.

Layer Function Setting

System families have a Function setting. That's true for Walls, Floor, Roofs and Ceilings. I've written about this in the past. Here's what they look like now.

I think the wording of a couple of the functions ought to be revisited, to something like this instead.

Finish 1 [4] = Finish Exterior [4]
Finish 2 [5] = Finish Interior [5]

If changed I suspect people would have less trouble deciding which function is appropriate. I run into wall types quite often that have these wrong or inconsistently applied. If you didn't realize this is how it's meant to work then check out the earlier post.

How Many Worksets Do I Need?

I'll borrow a concept from "You May be a Redneck if..." comedian Jeff Foxworthy.

"You may have too many worksets if..."

• You have to scroll the Workset Dialog
• You have a regular Tuesday morning Workset meeting
• You have a workset for Sheet A101, A102 and so on
• You have a workset for Doors
• You have no idea what Workset "XXLLR21LRX" is for
• You don't know the difference between Owner and Borrower

Okay enough humor. How many worksets is enough? Too many? You probably realize the answer is truly, "it depends". Worksets are meant to make it easier to collaborate. If they turn into a weekly Tuesday morning meeting then they aren't really working for you or the team.

Technically just one workset will suffice for Revit to function. Several will make it easier to define what your computer is loading into views and RAM. The whole model is still there, just not visible, that'll provide some relief for performance sake. How tangible or detectable that performance gain really is will depend greatly on the scope of your project. Recently I was working with a team, their building is a million square feet overall, and opening the whole file took considerably longer than selectively focusing on a single sector's workset.

This means each project should have its own workset structure based on its own conditions. There may be some worksets that many projects have in common, but it isn't the same thing as a Layer standard.

These are some examples of worksets. They might end up in your project or not.

• Building Shell or Envelope
• Vertical Circulation
• Grids - Structure
• Grids - Architecture
• Wing West
• Wing East
• Wing South
• Wing North
• Floors Retail
• Floors Condos
• Floors Rental
• Floors Residential
• Floors Examination Rooms
• Floors Laboratories
• FFE (Fixtures, Furniture and Equipment)
• FFE NIC (by owner that may be easier to manage alone)
• Mechanical AHU1 (all connected equipment related to AHU1)
• Mechanical AHU2 (all connected equipment related to AHU2)
• Telecom
• Security (this scope usually has "need to know" restrictions)
• Linked Files - Architecture (Revit)
• Linked Files - Structure (Revit)
• Linked Files - Mechanical (Revit)
• Linked Files - Plumbing (Revit)
• Linked Files - Electrical (Revit)
• Linked Files - Telecom (Revit)
• Linked CAD - Architecture
• Linked CAD - Mechanical Contractor
• Linked CAD (etc... a separate workset for each intrisically related DWG file may be advisable)

Obviously you don't need all of these in one project, they are just a sampling of some you could use or consultants might be using. My intention is to focus on connected relationships. Who is working on this stuff (workflow)? Is this part of the building separated obviously from another part and could easily be grouped separately? When I mention performance I don't necessarily mean that the file will suddenly be 10x faster. I mean that Revit won't waste any time displaying information that I don't need to see right now, not here in this view or any view until I choose to Open that workset(s) again.

You don't need a workset for something that is already assigned a category, like doors or windows. That's what the category is for. It is rare you don't want to see any doors. It is more common to think I don't really need to see the doors on the west side of the building. The exception would be levels and grids. There is a little known technique for managing these using worksets when dealing with linked files and their levels and grids.

Worksets aren't meant to be fixed or rigid. You can expand their number if necessary and you can collapse into fewer if the need no longer exists. I let Revit and a team "speak" to me. The conversations I hear help guide me into more or less.

Time to transition to the other thing that worksets get used for, Visibility. This purpose causes a fair number of worksets, even some of those in the list above are motivated by "seeing" elements or not. In my case I'm interested in closing their worksets, "hiding" their elements globally until I need them again which is still "seeing" but not from a documentation standpoint.

The visibility control over elements that Worksets provide is really a collateral benefit. It is not their purpose. Their purpose is to allow multiple users to concurrently work on the same project.

Filters were added for controlling visibility of elements on a view by view basis. You'll get a lot more mileage and options with them than using Worksets for visibility. If you reach for a workset to manage element visibilty you owe it to yourself to consider a deeper look at Filters.

For Revit MEP users Filters are much more necessary because many disciplines share a few categories that each other don't wish to see in their views. A water heater for example is Mechanical Equipment. I may not want a water heater visible in my HVAC floor plan and the plumbing views probably don't want to see a condensing unit in them. Both are assigned the same category. Filters will let us deal with that reasonably well, assuming the content is organized well. A workset might be tempting but we've got to remember to assign every element to the correct workset for it to be reliable. I've been using Revit a long time and I still forget to do it.

The single advantage that a workset has over a Filter is the ability to affect an entire project with a single change either while you are opening a project or when you need to transition to completely different portion of the project. The effectiveness of worksets hinges on users remembering to correctly assign the Active Workset as they work. Easier said than done.

With Revit 2013, and the changes to View Templates, Filters get sharper teeth because of the greater integration between Views and their Templates. Aaron Maller describes a method for controlling linked files with filters that begins with putting placeholder linked files in your project template (really just a project file to get started with).

Content or Content

Dave writes: "Does it seem to your readers that it's often more efficient to create separate families than try to make one that "flexes" correctly to make all the possible types we need? It seems that way to me at times."

So what do my readers think? Post a reply in a comment and let Dave know.

I do remember an interesting discussion at one of AU's Un-Conferences. A few of us remarked that we were seeing a trend away from trying to create super-families. I can relate to Dave's comment, which seems, to me, like voicing some specific frustration perhaps. I think that it is natural to be inclined toward building very parametric families. As soon as we see what is possible, why not?

However, as fast as some design solutions change a single solution family might get built quicker than the one we make trying to anticipate how it might change. If the family is rendered irrelevant as soon as the design changes then investing a lot of time in making it parametric may not make sense. This is where our intuition and experience make a big difference. These will help us decide when we know enough, are confident enough that it is worth putting the effort in.

Keep in mind that a family can evolve. It can start out simple, singular and then grow into a much more parametric version as the design evolves, settles down. I see designers focus on the big picture and then seconds later fret over the smallest detail. That's the nature of design, back and forth from macro to micro. It's hard to be general and at the same time be highly specific. That's the tension we are dealing with, transitioning to Revit.

Two Minutes with Beams and Columns

Brian Mackey recently wrote on his blog about a subtle feature that seems to have crept into the product without much fanfare. You can read his account. I decided to capture it in video format to pass along to a client who was asking about the concept (having beams aware of column ends) so I've posted it here too.

Workset Posts Summary

I've written about Worksets quite a bit over years. The year the post was written is the first part of each post's description. This s a compiled list of those posts.

Updated: 08/23/2018

Workset Focused: (70)
2005 Take Me to Library
2012 Basic Worksharing Guidelines
2008 Central File in Four Easy Steps
2016 Revit 2017 - Enabling Worksharing
2007 Workset Terminology - Quick Reference
2012 How Many Worksets do I Need?"
2014 Workset Names
2014 View Worksets
2011 Worksets Case of Person is No Longer
2012 Not Editable or Not Edible

2009 Revit 2010 Local Files
2006 Why a Local File?
2011 Don't Ever Work in a Central File
2008 Working in the Central File - Breaking the Rule
2006 Workset Visibility in Linked Files
2010 Workset Visibility in Linked Files
2013 Workset Visibility and Linked Files
2012 Working from Home
2012 Working in the Central File
2012 Why Does my File Name Include the Word Central?

2013 Synchronize with Central and Referencing Elements in Linked Files
2013 Recent Files and Worksharing
2013 Reloading Linked Files and Worksets
2011 Local Files How Often
2010 Can't Create a Local File Clue
2009 Worksharing Monitor are You Using It
2009 Backups Save As Is a Local File
2009 Central File Naming
2006 But I didn't Do Anything, Yes You Did!
2006 Which One STC or STC

2012 Remember the Active Workset
2006 Detach from Central
2008 Workset Save to Central Key Message
2010 Worksets Tip Add Extension
2012 Linked Files have Instance and Type Parameters
2012 Working at Risk
2013 Closing Worksets with Specify
2012 Surprise You are Now the Borrower
2012 Improve Your Borrowing Experience
2012 Revit and Drop Box

2011 The Central File is Being Accessed
2010 Workset Post Updates
2008 Avoid Save to Central
2008 My Username in Revit
2013 Concealing Your Workset Username
2006 Stand Alone or Central File - How Can I Tell?
2012 Are you Red - Worksharing Monitor
2013 Worksharing Display Users
2014 Deleting a Workset and Open Worksets
2014 Active Workset Display does not Refresh

2014 Worksets and Editing Things
2014 Matching Workset Naming with Linked File Worksets
2014 Specify Worksets and Save
2014 Revit 2015 Closing a Workset Linked File Ownership Conflict
2014 Local File Error on Open
2014 Username and Local Files
2014 Our Revit Username and Signing into Autodesk 360
2014 Gray Inactive Worksets
2015 Be Careful Creating Central Files in 2015
2015 Cannot Create a Local File

2015 Withdraw Your Editing Requests
2015 Worksets for the Small Project
2016 R2 - Detach from Central Filename

2016 Detach from Central and Specify Worksets
2016 Worksharing Display-Owners
2016 Revit 2017 - Enabling Worksharing
2016 Create a Local File - How Often
2016 Create New Local is Disabled
2016 Add a Comment using Synchronize and Modify Settings

2018 Remember Linked Files Have Two Workset Parameters

Workset Related: (31)

2018 Cannot Publish Coordinates

2017 Insert From File and a Worksharing File

2016 Worksharing - Loading Content
2016 Worksharing - Loading Content Part 2
2016 A Case for Worksets - Opening Linked Files
2016 Did you Load a Family - Synchronize NOW
2016 Tags Dimensions and Linked Files

2015 Synchronization and Disconnected Systems
2014 Revit Workset Error - Element has been Deleted
2014 Worksharing and Windows Operating Systems
2014 Review Warnings Show and Worksets

2013 Show History and I am Working in Central
2013 Worksets and Project Browser Sorting
2013 Lock Down Shared Coordinates
2013 Show History
2013 Show History and Rogue User Name
2013 Hide Workset Backup Folders

2012 Viewer Mode and Worksharing
2012 Load Classifications and Worksets
2012 Ready Made Selection Sets for Navisworks
2012 Undo History Gone

2011 Point Clouds and Worksets
2011 Delete Workset's Contents

2010 Dept. of Errors Action Caused Deletion

2008 Worksets and Purge Unused
2008 Workset and Hardware Matching
2008 Worksets as a Security Guard
2008 Save and Save to Central Error Message
2008 Local Files and other Workset Thoughts

2007 Visibility of Grips
2007 Quirky Stair Sketch Issue

Collaboration for Revit (C4R) Topics: (1)
2016 Getting Started with Collaboration for Revit (C4R)

Revit 2013 Downloads - Please Hold

Open the floodgates. People trying to download 2013 products are overwhelming the resources at Autodesk. A visit to the subscription site now offers this apology.

What's that over there? A bird? (clicking download while you are distracted...) no... I guess not.

Seek and Ye May Still Not Find

...may not find "Contentment"...

In the continuing disappointment that is Seek, please stop making it so easy to pick on you. This is the tale of a lowly pipe fitting, a vent cap. It was encouraging when I typed the criteria "Vent Cap" and it returned one result and it matched!

I downloaded the bugger right quick. Loaded it into the project and was met with "nope you can't use this fitting Steve" messages whichever way I tried to use it. I took a closer look at the family. Oh, it's looking for a lookup table file called SV-159.csv. Funny, Seek didn't offer me that (note above image again).

The fitting is from Charlotte so I wandered over to their site and found their original version.

I downloaded the zip file that contains these files.

I put the .csv file in the Lookup Table folder, still no joy. Turns out that there is an error in the family, how the revolve is defined. While editing the family, when I try flexing the diameter I get this error message.

When I look more closely at the revolve the axis and the sketch is just slightly past the Center (Right/Left) Reference Plane.

Move it over every so slightly and test, it works. Really subtle. So a novice Revit MEP user's experience with this family? It was a pain in the butt to track down for me...and I've got a few years experience under my belt. If this was a 1:100 experience I wouldn't even bother to mention it. It isn't. :(