Chapter 23 • BIM Management 924 to worry about “messing up” that file. If you do make your changes, however, click the Save As button and save your .txt file somewhere that makes sense to you. 5. Click OK to get back to the model. Now we are cooking here! We now know how to adjust our line weights, and how to make sure those adjustments are valid when we export the model and when we import CAD. It’s time to move on to other graphical features that need to be con- trolled within the Revit template. These are the annotation features. Controlling Annotations To begin with, Revit does not accept .shx fonts. The only font that Revit accepts is a TrueType font ( .ttf). If a font is not in your Windows fonts directory, forget it. Given that, don’t worry if your AutoCAD fonts are set to an SHX. Revit will convert them to Arial when you import them. If Arial is unacceptable, you will have to figure out an acceptable font. I recommend Arial, but most of the SHX fonts, such as architxt.shx, are available in a .ttf format. You can either find them online or email me at the address in the front of the book. The annotation we will address first is the everyday text that you will use in your models and the accompanying leaders. Formatting Annotations and Leaders Just like any drafting application, Revit needs to have the text set up. Yes, you can just use it out of the box, but I assume you have standards that look better than the boxed sample styles that are provided. The objective of the next procedure is to set up our default text and leaders: 1. To get started, make sure you are in the NER-TEMPLATE.rte file or the template you created. 2. On the Text panel of the Annotate tab, click the down arrow in the lower-right corner of the panel, as shown in Figure 23.14. 3. In the Type Properties dialog, switch the Type: to 3/32 ″ Arial. 4. Click the Rename button. 5. Call the new text NER-3/32” (of course you can call it whatever you want) and then click OK. 6. In the Type Parameters, change the leader arrowhead to Arrow Filled 15 Degree. Managing Settings 925 FIGURE 23.14 Clicking the down arrow in the Text panel 7. Change Width Factor to .800000 (see Figure 23.15). FIGURE 23.15 Changing the text 8. Click OK. 9. On the Annotate tab, click the Text button. 10. In the Properties dialog, make sure the NER-3/32 ″ text is current. 11. Add one leadered piece of text into your model. (It’s always a good idea just to check it to make sure the text came out as expected.) With the text and leaders out of the way, it is time to venture into text’s close cousin: the dimension. Chapter 23 • BIM Management 926 Cl e a n l i n e s s sta r t s he r e ! We now have an extra text style kicking around. We should purge our model immediately to avoid a messy template. 1. On the Manage tab, click the Purge Unused button, as shown here: 2. In the Purge Unused dialog, you must first click the Check None button. If you just click OK, you will have purged your entire model with no warning. 3. Scroll down near the bottom of the list, find the Text category, and expand it. 4. Check the 1/4″ - Arial text style. 5. Click OK. The text style is now deleted. Formatting Dimensions We can format dimensions in the same manner. You will, however, find this pro- cess unwieldy because each type of dimension needs to be formatted. You cannot do just one dimension and expect it to propagate to the other styles. The objective of the next procedure is to format your dimension styles. 1. On the Annotate tab, click the bottom of the Dimension panel (click where it says Dimension). This will expose your Dimension settings, as shown in Figure 23.16. 2. Click the Linear Dimension Types button. 3. In the Type Properties dialog, click Rename. 4. Rename the value to NER-3/32”, and click OK. 5. Scroll down to the Text group, and change the Width Factor value to .8. Managing Settings 927 FIGURE 23.16 Accessing the Dimension settings 6. Click the button to the right of the Units Format category. 7. Uncheck Use Project Settings. 8. Change the Rounding to the nearest 1/8 ″. 9. Check Suppress 0 Feet (see Figure 23.17). 10. Click OK twice. FIGURE 23.17 Customizing your dimensions Chapter 23 • BIM Management 928 Unfortunately you need to repeat this setup with the rest of the dimension types. I recommend you do so. Okay, moving along with annotations, we need to control our levels and our structural grid bubbles. Since we made slight adjustments to our text and dimen- sions, we have to alter our datum items as well. Doing so, however, is not as straightforward. Formatting Grids, Elevations Markers, and View Titles If you have had any experience with Revit, I’m sure you quickly realize that there is no button to change the appearance of grids and elevations. It’s not impossible to make specific alterations to these items, but you must do it by editing the annota- tion family that is loaded into your project. The objective of the following procedure is to alter a structural grid bubble and to modify a level indicator: 1. In Revit, click the Open button on the Quick Access toolbar. 2. Go to your Imperial Library folder. 3. Open the Annotations folder. 4. Select the file Grid Head - Circle.rfa and click Open. 5. Select the large 0. This is a tag. 6. Click the Edit Type button in the Properties dialog. 7. Check Bold. 8. Change the Width value to .8. 9. Click OK. 10. Save the file. Notice that Revit wants you to save a separate file. If you are the BIM manager, and nobody is going to yell at you, save it right over the existing file. If not, save it somewhere else. 11. Click the Load Into Project button. 12. You will get a warning that this family already exists, as shown in Figure 23.18. Click Overwrite the existing version. Sweet! You just replaced the grid bubble. See the trick? Some elements can be edited within the model, while some you have to go ferret the family out of its hiding place. Let’s keep rolling and do a level head! 1. On the Quick Access toolbar, click the Open button. If you don’t feel like navigating through buried folders in Windows Explorer, you can click the Imperial Library but- ton in the menu to the left of the Open dialog. This will take you directly to your default library. Managing Settings 929 FIGURE 23.18 Overwriting the existing version 2. Browse to the Imperial Library and then the Annotations folder. 3. Select the file Level Head - Circle and click Open. 4. Select the text Name. 5. In the Properties dialog, click the Edit Type button. 6. Click Bold. 7. Change the Width Factor value to .800000. 8. Click OK. 9. Save the file. 10. Click Load into Project, as shown in Figure 23.19. FIGURE 23.19 Clicking Load into Project 11. Select Overwrite the existing version. 12. Go to an elevation view just to make sure the change worked. Chapter 23 • BIM Management 930 ye a h , bu t Wh e r e did th i s Fa M i l y go ? You loaded the file into your project and it just magically worked, right? No. There is no magic here. In the elevation view, if you select the level, click the Properties button, and then click Edit Type, you will see that the symbol this specific family is using is the one we just modified, as shown in the following image. Also, this means that you can load any level head into the model and apply that to the family. Okay, now this is just getting to be downright fun. Let’s go ahead and modify a view title, shall we? 1. On the Quick Access toolbar, click the Open button. 2. Browse back to the Annotations folder. 3. Select the file View Title.rfa and click Open. 4. Select the View Name tag. 5. In the Properties dialog, click the Edit Type button. 6. Check the Bold option, and change Width Factor to .8000000. 7. Click OK. 8. Select the 1/8 ″ = 1′–0″ tag. 9. In the Properties dialog, click Edit Type. 10. Click Duplicate. 11. Call the new tag 3/32” and then click OK. Creating and Understanding Shared Parameters 931 12. Change the text size to 3/32″. 13. Click OK. 14. Save the view title family. 15. Load it into your project. 16. Overwrite the existing version. 17. Stand up and clap loudly because you are actually creating a nice template! (Optional.) This is looking great. Now for the harder stuff. When it comes to additional information that Revit does not provide, you will need an outside influence. Or, at least you will need to physically create a text file loaded with some of your “oddball” parameters that you can share between projects, families, and possibly other disciplines. Creating and Understanding Shared Parameters Shared parameters is a convoluted subject, so I am going to try to explain it in terms that I can understand—because this concept had to be explained to me over and over until I finally got it. Suppose you are doing a project for a school. All of your drawings need to have an SED (State Education Department) number. (I’m in New York, so if it is called something different in your state, province, or country, please forgive me.) This SED number belongs in with your project parameters so when you are filling out the job information, this SED number can be included. The issue is we need to add this parameter to the project you are working on and this same exact param- eter needs to be added to the title block family. When you insert the title block into the project, this SED number will populate the title block. Still foggy? Okay, let’s just do it and see what shakes out! The objective of the following exercise is to create a shared parameter .txt file and add it to a title block and your project. 1. In the Manage tab, click the Project Parameters button, as shown in Figure 23.20. 2. In the Project Parameters dialog, click the Add button. Chapter 23 • BIM Management 932 FIGURE 23.20 Clicking the Project Parameters button 3. In the Parameter Properties dialog, click the Shared Parameter radio button. 4. In the Categories field, check Project Information. 5. In the middle of the dialog, click the Select button. 6. You will get a dialog stating that you have not specified a shared parameter. Click Yes to choose one. 7. In the next dialog, there is still an issue because you don’t actually have a shared parameter file. Click the Create button. 8. Save the file as NER-Shared Parameters. (Of course you can name it anything you choose.) 9. In the Groups field, click the New button as shown in Figure 23.21. 10. Call the new parameter group Project Information and click OK. 11. In the Parameters field, click New. 12. Name it SED Number. 13. Click OK. 14. Keep clicking OK until you are back to the model. 15. On the Manage tab, click the Project Information button. Notice that SED number has been added to the list. See Figure 23.22. If you type your long SED number, where does this number wind up? This is where the shared part comes into play. Suppose we need this SED number dis- played in our title block. It’s just a matter of adding this same parameter to the title block family. Creating and Understanding Shared Parameters 933 FIGURE 23.21 Filling out the information for the shared parameter FIGURE 23.22 Voilà! The new shared parameter! . need to be con- trolled within the Revit template. These are the annotation features. Controlling Annotations To begin with, Revit does not accept .shx fonts. The only font that Revit accepts. however, is not as straightforward. Formatting Grids, Elevations Markers, and View Titles If you have had any experience with Revit, I’m sure you quickly realize that there is no button to. 10. Save the file. Notice that Revit wants you to save a separate file. If you are the BIM manager, and nobody is going to yell at you, save it right over the existing file. If not, save it somewhere