Forums >> Revit Systems >> Technical Support >> MEP Family Origin problem

CKorleski

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Joined: Tue, Aug 26, 2008
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I have a valve family that was created by an indiviual at my company, when the family was created the default referance line that is loaded into the Mechanical equipment template was not used, and a new referance line was used to set the valves origin.  Now when we try to insert the valve in to a pipeline, it is offset 4' above the pipe we are trying to place the valve on.  My question is, Is there a way to realigne the valve to the original refrence plane to fix the problem, or do I need to re-create the valve family using the the 0'-0" level as my starting point???  Thank you for your time. 

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garretttv

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Joined: Mon, Apr 20, 2009
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Ill try to keep this thread going since i have a similar issue and cont find a definitive answer in other threads.  I would like to re-define a wall-based family's origin but i cant figure out how to do so.  currently, the origin is constantly placing itself in the middle of the family, which is useless when trying ot place the family where i would like it.

can anyone shed light on how to re-define the point of placement of a family?

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JillBernhardt

Joined: Wed, Sep 30, 2009
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Hello, by default, it is the intersection of the Center Left/Right and Center Front/Back that defines the insertion point of a Revit family.  When you drag an out-of-the-box valve around the screen you will see that it has a center insertion point.  If you open up the family and take a look at it, the center of the valve is found at the intersection of the two primary reference planes.  If you drag an out-of-the box boiler around however, you will find you are dragging it around by the bottom-left corner.  If you take a look at it in the Family Editor, you will find that it was drawn with the intersection of the two primary reference planes at the bottom lef-hand corner of the part. So, a simple solution would be to examine the parts you are having problems with in the Family Editor and see where they are sitting in relationship to these two planes.  If you still have problems, you might also look at the properties of the reference planes in these custom parts.  If you select the two primary reference planes for an an out-of-the-box part, right-click and select Element Properties you will see that they actually have a property checked on called "Defines Origin."  On a custom piece, someone may have unchecked this property and they may have set other reference planes to define the origin, thus moving the origin, or insertion point of the part.  You should see that the properties of minor reference planes such as those that help define the location of components on a part as weak references and they should not have the property "Defines Origin" checked as in the example of the boiler below.  Following are some screen captures that illustrate what I mentioned above.  Hope it helps.

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Jill Bernhardt

    Blog:  The BIM Bulletin

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WWHub

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Joined: Tue, May 16, 2006
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I disagree with JillBernhardt about what is right or wrong with family origins.  They do NOT have to be at the junction of left/right front/back.  The origin should be where ever it makes sense for the family in question. 

Jill does explain correctly how you define the origin so uncheck to origins where they are now and redefine them as they should be for your element.  Add new reference planes if you need to.  Just be sure you name your new planes for later reference.

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JillBernhardt

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Jill Bernhardt

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garretttv

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Ok, this is helpful.  I had established that the intersection of the reference places was giving me the origin, however, i was unable to adjust this intersection and have that reflected within the family when placing the family in my model.  the problem has been alleviated by toggling the "defines origin" box.

thanks for the help on this.  CKorleski, it's been a while sinc eyou were on this thread, but hopefully you found a solution here as well.

G

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