Face Based Families & Basic Ceilings

[HelmetFire]

Ladies & Gentlemen,

The Goal

To have a set of face based families for use in reflected ceiling plans so that in the event a user accidentally deletes a ceiling they won’t also delete the elements hosted by it.

The Snags

• When placing these families in a basic ceiling (as may happen during design) they won’t cut the ceiling.
• When changing a compound ceiling that is being cut by these families to a basic ceiling (which is a possibility I can’t rule out) I am forced to delete the family instances because Revit “Can’t cut instance(s) of it out of it’s host” and “Highlighted geometry no longer determines a plane.”

Are these snags related to the limitations of basic ceilings or am I overlooking something? Thanks.

[Twiceroadsfool]

Basic Ceilings just suck all around. Dont ever use them, and FB families will be perfect.

[GMcDowellJr]

Odd use for Basic Ceilings but, with a large model pattern applied that matches the spacing of your fixtures, you can use it as a guide to place lights in a gyp ceiling.

[Alex Page]

Dont use basic ceilings - their "normals" are also upside down so lights end up pointing upwards

[cellersick]

I have one use case for basic ceilings - to represent the gyp "ceiling" of a separator bulkhead. More specifically, I use it when I want to bottom of a wall that's been cut by an opening to appear finished with gyp in the RCP. It can be tagged, and it's impossibly flat, so it doesn't interfere with the wall's representation in elevation. We don't usually have lights or mech in these locations, so hosting isn't an issue.

[chris.macko]

Wouldn't you still want the thickness of the gyp to show up in section so the actual opening cut and height are correct?

[cellersick]

No, not with this workflow. Any view with a scale large enough to see 2 distinct lines for the thickness of 5/8" gyp would be a drafting view (with detail components or plain drafting). In my opinion, the opening cut isn't "wrong" if it is sized to the finished opening - the "opening cut" is an abstract/nominal model element anyway. I don't need to know (or specify) the exact rough size of the opening, I need to specify the finished dimensions.

[Twiceroadsfool]

Wouldn't you still want the thickness of the gyp to show up in section so the actual opening cut and height are correct?

I do, yes. It's not ALWAYS true that things aren't run in those spaces (speakers, lights, electrical, sprinkler pipes),so I always want to see the thickness and the stud.

[cheinaranta]

Friends don't let friends use basic ceilings.

This could be the start of its own thread...

[snowyweston]

Friends don't let friends use basic ceilings.

Or Ramps.
Or Soffits.
Or Stacked Walls.
Or...

(you're probably right)