Revit Key Plans

Thanks to a little help from the AUGI Revit^® Architecture Forum, I was able to add a key plan to the title block family in my current Revit project and, with the setting of one instance-based parameter for the title block on each sheet, display the appropriate key plan, or none at all. There are a number of suggestions and examples in that thread; here is what I did today.

I happened to have an AutoCAD^® file that had the structural grid accurately drawn, so I made use of a copy of that, in AutoCAD^® Architecture, to quickly draw the building outline and the match lines, determine the amount I needed to scale the outline down to fit in my key plan area and finally paste the scaled-down graphics into a new file created from scratch.

I started a new Generic Annotation family in Revit Architecture 2010, and imported my scaled-down drawing file, matching origin to origin. I traced over the graphics with Revit linework, added text and filled regions for each of the three sectors into which the plans are broken and popped in a north arrow. I then deleted the imported AutoCAD file from the family.

To be able to control the visibility of the graphics, I created four Yes/No parameters in the Family Types dialog: Outline, SectorA, SectorB and SectorC.I then created six family types: No Key Plan (all parameters unchecked), Outline Only (Outline parameter checked, others unchecked), Sector A (only Outline and SectorA checked), Sector B (only Outline and SectorB checked), Sector C (only Outline and SectorC checked) and Sectors A-B-C (all parameters checked).In the Instance Properties dialog for all of the graphics in the family, I set the Visible parameter to be equal to one of the Yes/No parameters. All of the graphics except for the filled regions were set to the Outline parameter and the filled regions were set to the appropriate "Sector" parameter.

After saving the family file, I loaded it into my title block family and placed an instance in the Key Plan area. I gave that instance a Label tied to an instance-based parameter called Key Plan that I placed under the Graphics category. I set the default value to No Key Plan, saved the title block family and reloaded it into my project.

Now, by simply setting the Key Plan parameter in the Instance Properties of each sheet's title block file, I can make the appropriate key plan display, and that key plan will be in the same location on each sheet.The Sector A key plan is shown above; the other options (other than No Key Plan, which is blank) are shown below and are a parameter setting away.Pretty slick, if I do say so myself. ;-) [As always, reduced images can be viewed full-size by clicking on them; use the Back button on your Browser to return to the article.]

October 19, 2011 Update: A more detailed explanation of how to embed key plan graphics in a title block family, with instance-based control over what, if any, graphics display at each title block, can be found in this blog article.