Mastering Autodesk

Revit MEP 2016

CHAPTER 18: Creating Symbols and Annotations

CHAPTER 18: Creating Symbols and Annotations

Revit Drafting Tools
• Draw Panel
– Tools for drawing lines, arcs, shapes
– Same tools in Family Editor
– Used for the linework for symbols and annotation
families
– Connected lines remain connected to maintain shapes
– Temporary dimensions for easy sizing

CHAPTER 18: Creating Symbols and Annotations

Revit Drafting Tools
• Filled Regions
– Patterns within a defined border sketch
– Useful for display options within a single family
– Boundary sketch can be invisible if required

Region with Region with

visible border invisible border

CHAPTER 18: Creating Symbols and Annotations

Building a Symbol Library
• Generic Annotations
– Family type that is useful for symbols that are nested
into component families
– CAD symbols can be imported into a generic
annotation family, to re-create the symbol in Revit
format
• Important not to explode CAD that has been imported,
due to creation of unwanted styles

CHAPTER 18: Creating Symbols and Annotations

Building a Symbol Library Settings in Family Editor

• Subcategories
– Important to create for visibility of specific
types of symbols
• Otherwise all symbols will have the same
display settings defined for Generic
Annotations

– Subcategory settings transfer to projects or

families when the Generic Annotation is
loaded Settings in Project

CHAPTER 18: Creating Symbols and Annotations

Building a Symbol Library
• Text and Labels
– Static text values can be added to
symbol families
• Useful when the value of the text does Text in annotation
not need to change family Label in annotation family
– Labels can be used for text that acts as
an attribute of the symbol family
• Controlled by parameters in the family
– Properties control behavior of text
objects

CHAPTER 18: Creating Symbols and Annotations

Building a Symbol Library
• Detail Components
– Useful for symbology that needs to be in a
view other than the plan view
Detail component family
• Face-hosted families that do not have the
using filled region
Maintain Annotation Orientation parameter

– Do not react to changes in view scale, so they

must be made parametric

Detail component family loaded into panel

family and constrained to match size

Result when used in project on vertical host

CHAPTER 18: Creating Symbols and Annotations

Visibility Control
Annotation family with
• Visibility Parameters multiple filled regions
– Parameter of lines, regions, and text
that controls whether the element is
visible or not
– Allows for multiple variations of lines in
a single family
Association of
region visibility
with a family
parameter

Single family used in project with unique

display for each family type

CHAPTER 18: Creating Symbols and Annotations

Visibility Control
• Using Constraints
– Constraints can be applied within an
annotation symbol family to allow for
movement of the symbol independently from
the geometry of the device family
– Multiple objects (lines, regions, etc.) within Group constrained within an annotation family
an annotation family can be grouped so that
the group can be constrained to a reference

Nested annotation constrained within device family

CHAPTER 18: Creating Symbols and Annotations

Annotation Families
• Labels and Tags
– Tag families are annotation families
that use labels to report data from
properties of components
– Labels within tag families can report
multiple parameters in a single label Tag family in
Family Editor
– Lines can be used for symbolic
graphics of a tag

Tag family
used in project

CHAPTER 18: Creating Symbols and Annotations