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. :(
4 comments:
Wow, that's disappointing... In the Seek website, if I recall correctly, it says that a family has to pass a list of 'checkpoints' or checklist (more than 100 items) to be accepted as part of the Seek Library. It seems to me that this family was not tested at all.
I expect that it would be explained, if anyone bothers, that it is an older family that predates the additional checklist for quality. Regardless, obviously whoever created it didnt actually check to make sure it flexed. A fundamental concept.
Yes disappointing.
Claiming a significant quantity on the site is a double edge sword. A few are easier to keep after, 1,000's are another matter, 10,000...! I'd be surprised if the number of dedicated people for seek is in the double digits. Most likely the checklist is "self-perform", as in "yes...did that, did that..."
Charlotte pipe fitting families are a good examples of how not to create Revit families. I've had bad results with the few I've download and decided not to use any of them. The fact that they modeled them to the extent of showing the inner diameter was my first "oh no...." moment. They look impressive at first glance until you actually try to use them.
Steve: This is just the kind of post that screams for another one of your coveted endorsements for ARCxl.com
An example of how a handful of Revit Architecture users working together with limited resources, could produce a library of 125,000 quality detail files in 3 file formats.
There are also 1,000 well organized components to modify the details.
Still all free and under the radar.
C'mon Steve, create an account, and if we aren't everything we claim, and deserving, don't give us the "Stafford bump."
Post a Comment