Change Parameter from Type to Instance

It's fairly well known that we can change length parameters from type to instance via the Options Bar trick. What is less well known is that we can change other parameters too. I was trading a couple emails with Jose Fandos of Andekan about Manufacturer and Model being Type parameters. He shared a trick in a past blog post. His post explains how to change system parameters from type to instance. We refer to it now as the Vegas Trick because we were attending Autodesk University in Vegas when the subject came up at the bar.

In response to reading a post at AUGI I was curious about doing this for system parameters that Revit groups under Identity Data. Practically all family categories have those built in. That seems to make it impossible to do the switcharoo that Jose wrote about in his blog post, which related to an electrical parameter. However Jose noticed that in Revit 2013 the category Profile > Split Profile doesn't have identity data parameters. Fwiw, in 2014 they've changed that, in fact there is no "Profile" category or Split Profile" sub-category at all in 2014. I was trying to pull it off in 2014 and it took his refusing to be boxed in thinking to try it in 2013.

The process looks like this (using Revit 2013):

• Starting in the category you really need
• Add a value to each parameter you want to change
• Switch to category Split Profile
• Parameters become editable
• Change each to Instance
• Change back to the correct category
• Now you can control them by instance

If you're interested you can DOWNLOAD Revit 2013 version of a Specialty Equipment family that has been altered this way for Manufacturer and Model.

Keep in mind that we'll still get warned (editing a schedule) that the changes we make to the parameter will affect many instances of the type.

Pay Content Forward

One aspect of sharing content freely is seeing where things you make turn up. I made a Viewsonic inspired LCD computer monitor years ago and posted it at Revitcity (May 2004 believe it or not!). I routinely see it in models, blog posts, images online etc. Since I made it, it is recognizable to me, but not really distinctively "mine".

It was built with the philosophy of "pretty close is close enough" in mind. No confusion when you see it in a model and few if any challenge it's accuracy or role in a model. It even shows a blue screen and gray "task" bar color when you switch to shaded. Sorry, there is no rendered decal of a Windows desktop, though technically possible. It might be fun to put a Revit 1.0 screen capture on it though?

You may not want to share stuff you make but go ahead share something, not everything necessarily. You may not be able to or your livelihood is derived from selling content. No worries, you'll still get to see your hard work in play. Just get it out there!