Chapter 11 • Schedules and Tags 554 7. Click Apply. 8. Click OK. FIGURE 11.69 Selecting door and window tags It almost goes without saying that Tag All is quite a valuable tool. Another valuable tool is the ability to reach into a component and tag specific material within the component itself. Tagging by Material Tagging By Material could be one of the most underused commands in all of Revit. The reason is most people think of a tag as, well, a tag—some kind of box with some abbreviations or letters in it. That’s too bad, because we can also use tags as a means to place notes. Tagging an item’s material is one way of doing just that. The objective of the following procedure is to create a material description; then place a tag pursuant to that note: 1. In the Project Browser, go to the Level 1 floor plan. 2. Zoom in on the kitchen area in the east wing. 3. On the Tag panel of the Annotate tab, click the Material Tag button, as shown in Figure 11.70. 4. You will probably get the message stating that no material tag family is loaded into the model. If so, click the Yes button to load one. 5. Browse to Annotations ➢ Architectural ➢ Material Tag.rfa. Adding Tags 555 FIGURE 11.70 The Material Tag button on the Tag panel 6. Click Open. 7. Place your cursor over the tile floor as shown in Figure 11.71. Notice the tag reads Interior Finish. This is the default description that we will change in just a moment. When you see this tag, pick a point on the tile floor, and then place the note to the right, as shown in Figure 11.71. FIGURE 11.71 Placing the Interior finish note 8. Press Esc. 9. Select the tag. 10. In the Properties dialog, click Edit Type. 11. Change the leader arrowhead to Arrow Filled 15 Degree, as shown in Figure 11.72. 12. Click OK to reveal the leader. Yes, that looks much better. Chapter 11 • Schedules and Tags 556 FIGURE 11.72 Changing the leader arrowhead is one of the first things you will probably have to do. The next objective is to change what the tag says. Since we added that tag by specifying material, it is time to check out the materials to see exactly where this note came from. 1. On the Manage tab, click the Materials button, as shown in Figure 11.73. FIGURE 11.73 Select the Materials button on the Manage tab. 2. Find the material called Clay Tile - 12″ Beige, as shown in Figure 11.74, and select it. (We made it earlier when we were doing the floors in Chapter 6, “Floors.”) 3. To the right of the Materials dialog, you will see four tabs: Graphics, Render Appearance, Identity, and Physical. Click the Identity tab, as shown in Figure 11.74. 4. In the Descriptive Information section, click the Description field and type CLAY TILE IN KITCHENS, TYP (see Figure 11.74). 5. Click OK. See Figure 11.75 to check the changed material tag. Adding Tags 557 FIGURE 11.74 Changing the description of the material can result in “automatic” notation of your model. You can see that any time you use this material, it can be annotated with the same text. This procedure also works in sections, elevations, and enlarged plans. If you decide to change the note in the materials, it will update every occurrence in the entire model. FIGURE 11.75 The material is now tagged with a leadered note. Chapter 11 • Schedules and Tags 558 The next topic we’ll explore is where these tags come from and how we can cre- ate our own. Notation and symbols are the basis for maintaining CAD standards. If you simply use the examples given to you by Revit, you will have a set of draw- ings that look very generic and will immediately turn off your design team. Creating Custom Tags As mentioned before, templates very much drive how Revit works. Creating families is a prime example of this. To create a custom tag, you must first create a family and then load it into your drawing. The tag we will create is a casework tag. Revit does provide one, but ours needs to be smaller (based on scale), and it needs a box surrounding it. To learn how to create a custom tag from scratch, follow along: 1. Click the Application button, and select New ➢ Family. 2. Browse to the Annotations folder. 3. Select the file called Generic Tag.rft. 4. Click Open. Welcome to the Family Editor! The first thing you may notice is the large block of text in the middle of the view that says, “Note: Use Settings|Family Categories to set the tag’s category. Insertion point is at intersection of ref planes. Delete this note before using.” This is a great note, and we need to start by taking its advice: 1. Select the note, and click the Delete button (or press the Delete key on your keyboard). 2. Click the Family Category And Parameters button, as shown in Figure 11.76. FIGURE 11.76 The Family Category And Parameters button Creating Custom Tags 559 3. In the Family Category And Parameters dialog, select Casework Tags, as shown in Figure 11.77. FIGURE 11.77 Selecting Casework Tags 4. Click OK. Notice that the ribbon has changed. The only items available are designed to aid you in the creation of a family. There are many buttons that we will get to in Chapter 17, “Creating Families,” but for now, we are interested in the Label button. 1. In the Text panel on the Home tab, click the Label button, as shown in Figure 11.78. FIGURE 11.78 The Label button on the Home tab 2. Click the Type Properties button on the Properties panel, as shown in Figure 11.79. 3. Click Duplicate. Chapter 11 • Schedules and Tags 560 FIGURE 11.79 The Type Properties button 4. Call the new label 1/16”. 5. Click OK. 6. In the Text category, change the Text Size to 1/16”. 7. Change the Width Factor to 0.8. 8. Click OK. 9. In the model, place the tag directly on the intersection of the refer- ence planes, as shown in Figure 11.80. FIGURE 11.80 Placing the tag onto the reference plane intersection 10. In the Edit Label dialog, select Type Mark from the list to the left. 11. In the middle of the Edit Label dialog is an Add Parameter(s) To Label button. Click it. The Type Mark parameter should show up in the right field, as shown in Figure 11.81. 12. Click OK. 13. Press Esc twice. The label has been added. It’s small but it’s there. The next step is to draw a rectangle around this text. The following procedure describes how: 1. On the Home tab, click the Line button, as shown in Figure 11.82. 2. On the Draw panel, click the Pick Lines icon. Creating Custom Tags 561 FIGURE 11.81 Adding the Type Mark parameter 3. On the Options bar, change the Offset value to 1/16”. 4. Zoom into the label, and then offset the horizontal reference plane up 1/16 ″ and down 1/16″, as shown in Figure 11.83. 5. In the Options bar, change the Offset value to 1/8”. 6. Offset the vertical reference plane to the left and to the right 1/8 ″, as shown in Figure 11.84. 7. On the Modify tab, click the Trim/Extend Single Element button. 8. Trim the four corners so your screen resembles Figure 11.84. 9. Press Esc. 10. Save the file as Casework Tag.rfa. Make sure you save the file in a location where you can locate it at a later date. 11. On the Family Editor panel, click the Load Into Project button, as shown in Figure 11.85. FIGURE 11.82 Click the Line button to start sketching the box. Chapter 11 • Schedules and Tags 562 FIGURE 11.83 Offsetting the horizontal reference plane up 1/16″ and down 1/16 ″ FIGURE 11.84 Creating the box FIGURE 11.85 Loading the family into your project With the new tag loaded into the project, we can now use it. Since it is a case- work tag, we need to find some casework to label, as follows: 1. In the Project Browser, go to the elevation called Kitchen North. You can also go to the Level 1 floor plan and zoom in on the kitchen. From there, you can double-click on the elevation marker pointing at the north leg of the kitchen. 2. Zoom in on the cabinets, as shown in Figure 11.86. Creating Custom Tags 563 Wh iC h on e do i Ch o o s e ? If you have more than one model open (other than this family), you will see a dialog asking you to select the file you wish to load the family into. If this happens, simply select NER-28.rvt (or the file you are working on) as shown here: 3. On the Tag panel on the Annotate tab, click the Tag By Category button. 4. On the Options bar, uncheck Leader. 5. Pick the base cabinet with two doors and one drawer, as shown in Figure 11.86. FIGURE 11.86 Picking the base cabinet with two doors and one drawer . how we can cre- ate our own. Notation and symbols are the basis for maintaining CAD standards. If you simply use the examples given to you by Revit, you will have a set of draw- ings that look. If you decide to change the note in the materials, it will update every occurrence in the entire model. FIGURE 11.75 The material is now tagged with a leadered note. Chapter 11 • Schedules. view that says, “Note: Use Settings|Family Categories to set the tag’s category. Insertion point is at intersection of ref planes. Delete this note before using.” This is a great note, and we need