Symbolic Lines within Families

[grs]

I'm pretty new to Revit and am in the process of creating/modifying several small mechanical families. The majority of these families will be used in plan or section views whose detail level is set to medium. As such, they'll typically be shown only as symbolic lines in our plans. For valves and other small inline pipe accessories, I'm currently using the largest type size in the family then copying that while only changing the connection sizes to form the smaller valves. I found this to be the easiest way to keep the symbology consistent while mostly ignoring the size of the 3D element. The symbolic lines show up as expected in plan view but not in section since the view plane is parallel to the plane which the lines were drawn on. Is there a way to have the symbolic lines automatically face the view so they look the same in section and plan or do I need to create two sets of symbolic lines within the family on perpendicular planes? If there is a better way to create these types of families, I'd appreciate feedback on that, too.

[Twiceroadsfool]

I would totally just show the 3d element. Symbolic stuff is a pain in the ass, and kinda sucks.

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[scourdx]

I agree show 3d because it will simplify your process. Most often I want mechanical 3d model and can careless what symbols they used.

[Robin Deurloo]

And you have to remember that when at some point you look at that valve at an angle, you won't see the symbolic lines at all but you will see the 3D model of course.

[tzframpton]

I'm pretty new to Revit and am in the process of creating/modifying several small mechanical families. The majority of these families will be used in plan or section views whose detail level is set to medium. As such, they'll typically be shown only as symbolic lines in our plans. For valves and other small inline pipe accessories, I'm currently using the largest type size in the family then copying that while only changing the connection sizes to form the smaller valves. I found this to be the easiest way to keep the symbology consistent while mostly ignoring the size of the 3D element. The symbolic lines show up as expected in plan view but not in section since the view plane is parallel to the plane which the lines were drawn on. Is there a way to have the symbolic lines automatically face the view so they look the same in section and plan or do I need to create two sets of symbolic lines within the family on perpendicular planes? If there is a better way to create these types of families, I'd appreciate feedback on that, too.

The only way we've been able to achieve it "automatically" is to go to an elevation view of the valve Family and place the symbol in that View. You'll want to use Visibility Control so you hide the Plan View in Elevation and vice versa. The other thing you can do is utilize Details to "overlay" these objects at the point of the valve manually. Also you can try Symbols because these can adjust to Scale but this might be too much of a workaround.

No ultimate solutions to this, really. Only tradeoffs. Revit doesn't have good 2D symbolic or P&ID processes.

-TZ