Mastering Revit Shared Parameters 

Glad it was handy! Yes it can be quite confusing at first, I remember being there also

You're welcome! Will do

Thanks Jonathan! Glad the content was helpful. My own advice RE naming conventions comes from my own hasty missteps in the past.

You're welcome!

You're welcome mate!

Cheers Jeremy!

Thanks Daniel!

You're welcome! Yes the reasoning behind how efficient Revit/BIM systems can be achieved is crucial, one of my main goals in sharing this type of content is to bypass the generic videos out there that don't relate the topic back to what practices actually need.

@@AussieBIMGuru Truly a Guru ;)

Quick follow-up question? I know in English language is not that common, but in portuguese words are very often graphically accentuated (english ex: Résumé). Is there a reason we shouldn´t use this?

@@marianaarodrigues1 it ultimately depends on how the word is being used. If it is in programming then this can sometimes cause errors as it may naturally expect an 'e' for example. In file naming it may sometimes trigger illegal characters on certain regional machined also. Software is becoming more universal in nature, so sometimes it can't account for all the different ways people do things. For example the Svg file format uses commas to separate values, however some countries use commas as decimal points also. This causes issues when used in a program like power bi where it can't deal with a comma separated format such as this.

@@AussieBIMGuru Thank you for answering. I can understand now the consequences of writing the word properly... I think for now we'll have to keep it this way as without the graphical accent in some words the meaning changes completely :/

You're welcome!

You're welcome Rimond, great to hear from you!

You're welcome, enjoy!

Glad to be of help, and thanks!

Thanks Alejandro!

Yep the source is sacred!

Thanks Michael! I try not to worry about my thumbs down too much - probably people that don't like Revit to begin with, or didn't like the presentation format. Democracy in action. Yes consistency is the key for people to buy into the point of well managed shared parameters. Another step beyond this would be to show automation workflows that depend on predictable fields being present in a model.

You're most welcome Wilfredo!

You,'re welcome!

You're welcome!

Thanks!

Glad it was useful!

Thanks Tito, that was my aim so glad that it came across!

Thanks, I'm glad you found it useful!

I noticed that you actually read, respond to, and possibly make videos about questions in comments, so I'll ask one. I want to be able to schedule the nested families within a family that is in my project. Aka count pieces of the family. There is an Autodesk forum about this question but I don't quite follow the solution, which uses shared parameters. I think that could be an interesting and useful video so I'll suggest it. Here is a link to the forum. forums.autodesk.com/t5/revit-structure-forum/scheduling-nested-families/td-p/3706182

The answer here is moreorless correct - you would need each nested family to be shared, and also need them to all contain a common shared parameter. At the family level, you would associate that parameter down to the nested families and could then set that parameter's value at the project level, which would push down to the nested families. You could use something like Dynamo to push a unique field like the families Id into that parameter which would then push itself down to the nested families, and could collect that Id in rows and count the occurences -1. That would be the number of shared nested families for that occurence. Alternatively if you just want the count I believe The FamilyInstance.SubComponents node from the Clockwork package could also do this at the project level (then count the list length, send it back to the family instance itself): knowledge.autodesk.com/support/revit-products/learn-explore/caas/sfdcarticles/sfdcarticles/How-to-select-nested-families-in-a-project-file-using-a-Dynamo-script-in-Revit.html

Thanks for the feedback! Prefixing with _ is an interesting idea, makes sense in some applications with alpha stacking. The reasons to use a project vs shared are; - use the parameter in filters - apply the parameter to all families of categories regardless - standardize the grouping for visual ergonomics (project overrides family setting) - protect instance values when swapping between families with/without the parameter (lost on swap otherwise) Hope that helps!

You're welcome David!

Thanks!

You're welcome

I don't believe so. Itm files are a whole different file type to Rfa files.

Great idea, I began using this syntax a few months ago - super handy!

​@@AussieBIMGuru Yes indeed. I would like to ask smt even if offtopic, so feel free to answer. Many time I create firm custom familes and, in order to have better visibility control, I do prepare my own Sub-Category (inside the family ofc). What would be a consistent name convention in your opinion?

@@pavillon9365 given that subcategories can repeat names across categories I just use the convention; XX_PascalCase Where XX is the company prefix (e.g. I use BG) and the remainder is pascal case descriptors. E.g. BG_CupboardsAbove BG_Chairs BG_SwingElevation I use plural wherever it relates to an object and singular for graphics.

​@@AussieBIMGuru Thanks for advice. Aprreciate it.

@@AussieBIMGuru Hi. I have found your videos very useful, considering the fact that as you a I am a BIM Manager since I was 26 (I am 29 now). I try to name shared parameter according to my firm initials and give a cosistent naming convetion too but I have noticed that I may have little troubles in Schdules header naming. (e.g. XX_Door_Heigh>Door swing panel height). I do have a plug in that allows me to export in excell and papulate the schedule itself but NOT scheudule headers. How do you overcome the issue? If you want I can give you my mail. It is always interesting to discuss with people that knows what are you talking about .

Glad you got lots out of this video that you can apply to your day to day work! Oi oi oi ;)

If you can do it without modelling them that's ideal (e.g. have a parameter for # screws, # plates). If you must, you could make shared families which report both at project level and if nested in other families, then you can schedule them altogether at project level.

@@AussieBIMGuru Thanks for the reply! Actually it's fine, I have them modeled cause it's not that many. I created a shared parameter at screw level family, but it doesn't show up on schedules. Sorry, I'm still trying to understand the whole concept of scheduling and shared parameters.

Thanks Anwar, good question. I always suggest trying to get it into a BMP. Usually, the most common workflow is that a common parameter is made by the lead consultant and distributed for others, then everyone uses Dynamo to migtate from their company parameter to the common one. Usually its too hard to force everyone to use a new parameter as their content is usually set up to their standards prior. Often the best workfloe is to apply the parameters at the project level as type or instance just to hold the pushed data. Usually the team should establish asset coding conventions to avoid overlaps.

@@AussieBIMGuru Brilliant - thank you for the feedback Gavin. Much appreciated - will take this info with me. Brilliant series of videos.

@@alowther6848 thanks, best of luck!

You're welcome! The tag family isnt connected to whether it sources element/material, the type of tag that is nominated (element/material/user) informs the tag family how to behave. Unfortunately there is no way to change the tag once placed, so always make sure to pick the right one initially. My generic tag usually draws on element parameters rather than keynotes.

Certainly no reason you can't use one parameter for the purpose of two, as long as it's understood by the end user ultimately. I tend to keep door/window parameters separate as they're generally managed as two systems in my scheduling/data management.

The method i use in the parameter replacsment tutorial uses the only method I know of in the revit api which can swap parameters from one shared parameter to another, not sure if this is what you are asking? I would class that specific tutorial as expert difficulty, so it might be a challenging one to follow if you're new to dynamo. Focus on fundamentals first. There are various apps out there that use the same method to do this, but theyre all effectively doing the same thing in principle.

Hi Kevin! Sorry for the delay, just realised I missed a comment in my studio page. This is indeed a highly complex task to achieve, and most firms unfortunately do not share their methods or files to achieve this. Personally this is one of my least favorite things about IFC - it is an open standard, but BuildingSmart does not take ownership over any technical ways to achieve it in proprietary platforms (not for profit, fair enough I guess), so the standard essentially becomes closed again in reality. I believe you can associate parameters by name to IFC elements using only a custom mapping file. You may be correct in that the parameter is limited to one mapping only in general as the Pset comes first in the mapping file; knowledge.autodesk.com/support/revit-products/troubleshooting/caas/sfdcarticles/sfdcarticles/REVIT-How-to-use-the-IFC-parameter-mapping-table.html You might be able to override this by applying the corresponding Ifc parameter from the file that comes with Revit to the 'exception cases', but this means you'd be using more than one shared parameter also unfortunately. Many firms I know end up adding all the possible fields to each of their families by default then jamming their actual parameter values into these fields prior to export rather than going through the mapping process. Currently I've been using the IFCExportAs and IFCExportType parameters with success (using the ones Revit provides, no mapping). Another option if they are not to be mapped to compliant fields is to use schedules when exporting; revitforum.org/showthread.php/41551-shared-Parameter-to-IFC-Model-how?langid=1

@@AussieBIMGuru Thanks for the reply mate. I did actually do some research and played around with multiple settings in order to find a solution. The schedules i find kinda suboptimal as i must create these for each type of object with the corresponding parameters i would want. In my book that is risky and a lot of effort. So i went along and did some stuff with the created export .txt and listed the whole Propertyset scheme once again below the first property set and edited the Ifc parameter to the one i desired. That actually worked for 2 types of objects (in this case Rooms as IfcSpaces and Doors s IfcDoor. I will continue testing this. This will probably result in some kind of general shared parameter file with a full template including every shared parameter. So i norder to specify that for different projects and different needs for parameters there will be a copy of the manually created export .txt file where one just has to delete the non needed parameters. Or maybe the unused ones wont even be included?! I'll get myself onto that and see where that goes. In case u wondering I dont mind sharing the results as we BIM engineers and managers r kinda in this whole thing toegether imo. Just lmk wish u a pleasant day.

@@Rant0n yes definitely happy to see the outcome and how we might be able to package it for others. Might even be able to turn it into a video to help share the results. Good on you for thinking this way mate, we need more of this in AEC!

@@AussieBIMGuru So i went along and created a Room with some walls, a door, a window and a space just for testing and created a shared parameter file with some parameters. Adding these to the project (via manage, project parameters) was quite annoying so i assume i will be making a template which already contains all of these, so i wont have to click through each of them again to add them to show up. I did create my own export.txt with the format that is required and noticed /did some stuff: - i did not find out the difference if i define the value within the export as Instance or Type. The outcome was the same. - To find the coresponding Ifc object to attach these parameters within the text file i went to the ifc2x3 documentation on building smart and tried what seemed to fit. - special characters like ä,ö,ü are a killer within these and wont get exportet at all. This is just a problem in some languages though. -One needs to define the parameters as they are defined within revit when u create them in your shared parameter file. An Area must as well be declared as area. An Integer as such and so on. For mixed Stuff like Serial Keys i just used Text which worked fine. - If one leaves a shared parameter unfilled within revit, it wont export it either. So that means there is no need to create particular export files for each project in case u added some parameters which u ended up not using. - I did not manage to attach certain stuff to its corresponding revit parameter: e.g. Lenghts/heights/Materials (I mean "My Parameter for length" = "Revit Parameter for length"). I added these parameters as project parameters and set them up as Instance parameters for this test. I tried that as well with Type parameters which will just show within the popup properties but that wasnt possible either, maybe you have an idea on how to solve this. I could only fill these manually which is kind of not whats desired. -To convert the export.txt i did use an excel sheet and its cells as it gets quite confusing within the editor depending on the length of the parameter. - The format of the export.txt is quite simple: "Name of Parameter in IFC", "Format" "Name of Parameter in Revit" - One needs to manually create these export files, i did not find an option within revit that could create these. EDIT: It does not seem to matter if one defines the Object as IFC Entity or IFCType, both works! I would be willing to share that test files with you to get more insight on what i was doing but i cant share stuff on youtube here. If you r interested just lmk and hand me over some email adress or something. I think the whole issue is well worth a video as its actually quite a complex task to get into (well for me it was on my own). Regards!

This is pretty much the only time that this rule can be broken - is the only way unfortunately. Good point! The main reason i reinforce the no editing rule is for basic/technical users, as the SP file is often crucial to company standards and templating. Advanced users it is probably OK if necessary. I"d usually suggest editing via excel or similar to preserve file structure at least.

@@AussieBIMGuru Thanks Gavin, have you created a video showing how to do this? Hope you're well and safe as watching the terrible fires going on in Australia, keep safe.

@@ahg3395 i haven't yet but will add to my list for mid 2020. Thanks for the kind words, luckily I'm in the city, but rural australia is doing it pretty tough. Hopefully we get some rain soon!

@@AussieBIMGuru looking forward to future video, but if you have any pointers on how to edit SP file in excel, then I would really appreciate it. I've sent you a LinkedIn connection request. Keep up the great work you're doing. Adrian

@@ahg3395 thanks adrian, accepted :) It would be similar to what I do in this video at 4:20: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-jK6NdsHsvVo.html Excel can parse CSV or delimited files and save them back as CSV (then use control + h to replace commas with tabs in notepad). It's a bit bespoke, so have a play with it in a copy of the file first I'd say. Excel is a wiz tool for data editing from any BIM program - always great to find interoperability opportunities to speed up our workflows.

Revit doesn't have a system for this unfortunately. My recommendation is to use Dynamo to detect painted columns and then capture this in a text shared parameter in the respective column so it can be scheduled.

My guess is that the same parameter is applied as a project parameter. Whatever group it is set to here will override the group in families in the project also.

@@AussieBIMGuru no, this is not the case. The full name of the parameter is CB_DAT_ TagNo. I had just created it and added it to a family when I posted the question. Parameters from the shard parameter file can't automatically add themselves as a project parameter, correct?

@@charlesball9522 they shouldn't be able to. Maybe try some of the ideas in this thread; revitforum.org/showthread.php/30433-Can-t-Change-Parameter-quot-Group-Under-quot-Category

Yes there should be nodes that come ootb and also with clockwork package that can do that.

Hrm make sure you have added the shared parameter to project information and/or sheets ar project level as well if you want it to relate to the sheet versus titleblock.

Unfortunately Mark cannot be nested. I would use Dynamo to push the parameter value to all intersecting rebar families for an element. I would also use a shated parameter instead, as you will trigger duplicate mark warnings otherwise.

@@AussieBIMGuru can you sir give me this dynamo .... If you can sir make vido explan that...thank you so match

@@mohammedashraf1569 I haven't built it as I don't really use the rebar tools. I would look into learning and trying it yourself, would be a good learning excercise. It would mostly use the 'Does Intersect' node and the 'Filter by boolean mask' node.

Shared parameters can also be used for filters, although they will need to be added to all filtered categories as a project based parameter first. They are still functionally shared in nature. I would use only project parameters if a shared parameter doesnt seem valuable to a company beyond a project. Even then nearly always a shared parameter is better.

@@AussieBIMGuru yeah!! Thanks now I tried I did not know that. Thank you so much.

@@JorgeRojas-ru8yb you're welcome!

Good question, they can be both. It all depends on the settings you choose when you add a shared parameter to the project or family.

If the parameter has use now then it should be fine, but note that you cannot 'replace' a project based shared parameter so you would need to move any data over at that point if required. The only way a shared parameter can conflict is it its GUID clashes with another one.

@@AussieBIMGuru thank you for the reply as always ^^... Are there downsides in using multiple shared parameter files in one project?

Yes a parameter file can be renamed, but you will need to repath to it in Revit as it will lose the path when you do.

Mom's spaghetti!

Haha finally someone spotted it! 10/10 meme quality too

I caught that too :)

Yes they can behave the same way. A shared parameter can be a family type parameter as well. Some family type parameters are in templates by default, e.g. the width parameter in casework - these are special cases. When you select two family instances in a project that share a parameter, they can both be edited at the same time if the parameters are instance based. If the types are in a schedule row together, you could edit shared type parameters across multiple family types similarly.

@@AussieBIMGuru I'm a visual person, so let me try to understand it visually. shared parameters are saved in a sperate text file as a sort of template. they can be created and called into action by applying it to family parameters. the same shared parameter "template" can be applied to different parameters in different families (not just family instances) This shared parameter then forms a link or a bridge that controls the 2 parameters of 2 different families. Am I understanding it correctly? Sorry for asking too many questions, the resource on shared parameters are really hard to find online.

A shared parameter can be added to either a project across a category, or to a family itself. Instances of families are just what we say when we place a family of a certain type in the model (not just when it sits in the family browser). Shared parameters have a unique ID behind the scenes which Revit uses to 'understand' that the same parameter has been used in multiple families or projects, and can align these parameters as a result in things like schedules, tags or simply selecting and viewing element parameter values at once. Don't confuse type and instance parameters as well, a shared parameter can be either of these. See it as an alternative to non-shared parameters.

@@AussieBIMGuru OK got it, thank you. One last thing, Shared parameters are generally not used to control the dimensions of the family, right?

@@obsidianstatue actually we use them very often for this. Many users ignore the default parameters in templates like width/depth/height as not all templates come with them and we can't add them easily. I usually connect them to shared parameters for dimensioning using formulae.

Mom's sphagetti!

Haha yeah i move quite fast. Some people find me easier to watch on 75% video speed.