finding your way: using revit to create the best signage package … · 2021. 7. 28. · finding...

Finding your Way: Using Revit to Create the Best

Signage Package EVER Purvi Gandhi Irwin, AIA, LEED AP BD+C, CADD Microsystems

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Description

Let’s face it, putting together a signage package can be tedious and requires great attention to detail.

Typically, there is a lot of repetition and a lot of repetition and you need the ability to change properties and

populate these changes throughout the schedule easily and accurately. By using 3D components, tags,

schedules, schedule keys, and worksets, you can create a signage package that will be the envy of all your

friends!

The following topics will be covered:

• Families (signage, tags, detail components)

• Schedules and associated key schedule(s)

• Set up your model to only see the signs on specific sheets (worksets or view filters)

• Best practices and general considerations

Introduction Typically, a signage package happens at the very end of the CD phase or even during the CA phase, since

there is often not time to work it out completely beforehand. Because of this, it is important to make sure that

your package is simple in its execution and uses the fewest number of moving pieces. In this lecture, I will

walk you through the critical elements that you need to create and use for a successful signage package

and also present alternatives with pros and cons, so that, just like everything in Revit, you can tailor your

approach to your specific conditions.

Considerations

General Project

• Number of different types of signs

• Size of the building to determine the total number of signs

Revit Workflow Related

• How custom are your signs? Custom sizes/shapes/graphics?

• How do you want to show the information?

o Tags and schedule

General Workflow

1. Evaluate what you will need.

a. Sit down with your building and make a list of all the different types of signs that you will need.

b. Plans in conjunction with a finish/room schedule is helpful.

2. Set up your model

a. Create a workset for the sign elements (to control visibility)

b. Create separate signage views, with their own view templates

c. Create signage sheets

3. Create the families that you will need.

a. Signs – inside and outside a room

b. Tag(s) – mark vs. type mark vs. both

Finding Your Way: Using Revit to Create the Best Signage Package EVER

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c. Create types for each sign based on the program of the room (evaluation from step 1)

4. Place the signs in the model. Use the correct family based on if it’s inside or outside the room it’s

referencing.

a. Tag the signs.

5. Create a working model elements schedule.

6. Create a key schedule to streamline initial data entry and future revision (because you know things

will change at least 5 times)

7. Enter the sign data into the model.

8. Create sheet model element schedule – two methods

a. Generic model schedule

b. Room schedule with embedded generic model schedule

9. Drawing your sign details

a. Detail components

Putting Together Your Signage Package

Step 1 – Evaluate Your Project

As with most things in Revit, you only get a product that is as good as what you put into it – garbage in,

garbage out. Before you can start creating the elements for the package, you must first evaluate your

building and determine exactly what you need.

I made a list of considerations at the beginning, and I will elaborate on those now with general questions

that you should answer before you get started on the Revit portion of the endeavour.

Quantity of Different Sign Types

• Do you have a lot of different types of spaces or is your building relatively small and simple?

• How custom are the signs?

• Do you have a lot of one-off signs (President’s Office, CEO Office, Petting Zoo, etc.) or can things

generally be covered with just a few sign types?

Total Number of Signs

• How many of each type of sign do you have?

• Can you leverage the power of key schedules to help you fill out repetitive information?

How Custom?

• Do you have custom sizes/shapes/graphics?

• This will determine how detailed your sign details need to be. If you are using a standard

manufacturer, then you might be able to get away with not elevating the signs at all (although we all

know how detail-oriented we architects are and how we MUST CONTROL EVERYTHING!)

Graphics

• How do you want to show the information?

o Simple tags and detailed schedule

o Tags only


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Step 2 – Setting Up Your Model

Worksets

I love using worksets for visibility. They make it very easy to global hide/view elements and their visibility can

be easily controlled by view templates. I recommend creating a “signage” workset, placing all the 3D sign

elements on this workset, and defaulting it to not visible in general.

Figure 1: Default Workset Visibility

Plan Views for Sheets

Create separate ”signage” floorplans for each level that needs it, and assign them their own view template.

Create a view template that turns off all annotation except room tags, sign tags (generic model tags, or

whatever category you used), and potentially door tags. Set the Signage workset to “visible” so that it will

only appear on these plans.


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Figure 2: View Template Workset Visibility

You might have to tweak this template as you go, but if you assign it to these views to begin with, then it’s

very easy to change them all together as needed.

Sheets

Create your sheets and place your plan views on them. This way you can determine which scale works best

and set it from the beginning. One of the most annoying things is changing the scale on a drawing and then

having to go and adjust the locations and leader shoulders of all the tags!

Step 3 – Creating Signs

Now the fun part – making the families! There are 3 families that you will need to create for this system (at this

point) – 2 sign families and a tag family.

Sign Families

I use a “generic model – faced based” family to create my signs. We need two signs, one where the Room

Calculation Point is “behind” the sign, for signs that are mounted outside of their rooms, and another where

the Room Calculation Point is “in front” of the sign, for those mounted in the room they are referencing.

This signage family is very simple – it doesn’t have any parameters because it doesn’t need any. I have a

simple extrusion that I can place on any model surface and tag. I made my sign 4” wide by 6” tall by ½”

thick, centered on the default reference planes that come in every family template. Make the first family,

turn on the Room Calculation Point, adjust it, save it, do a save-as and make the second one, the only

difference being the location of the Room Calculation Point.


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Figure 3: The sign on the left is for signs placed outside of their room, the one on the right for

those placed inside their room.

The Room Calculation Point (the dashed green line with the green dot) is how Revit knows which room that

sign is associated with. Most objects have this and it can be manipulated for other family category types,

too. Adjusting the location of the green dot is paramount in helping you schedule the signs correctly. If the

Room Calculation Point is not visible, go to the “Family Categories and Parameters” dialog and check the

box in the bottom portion under “Family Parameters.”

IN A “FACE-BASED” FAMILY, THE TOP OF THE SCREEN IS UP IF THE HOST IS A VERTICAL SURFACE. THE DEFAULT

HEIGHT AFF IS 4’-0”, MEASURED FROM WHERE THE TWO ORIGIN REFERENCE PLANES INTERSECT (IN THE CASE

OF THIS FAMILY, THE INTERSECTION OF THE TWO DEFAULT REFERENCE PLANES). MY SIGN IS ONLY A VESSEL

FOR HOLDING SCHEDULE INFORMATION, THE SHAPE ITSELF IS IRRELEVANT – THE ONLY CAVEAT TO THAT IS THAT

IT NEEDS TO BE BIG ENOUGH AND PLACED SUCH THAT MY CUT PLANE WILL EITHER BE ABOVE IT OR CUT

THROUGH IT SO THAT I CAN TAG IN ON THE PLAN.


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Figure 4: Turning on the Room Calculation Point

Creating Types

The next step is to create types for each different sign type you have in this building. Use the analysis you

performed under Step 1 to create these types. Use the “SIGNAGE-OUTSIDE ROOM” family for those signs that

are outside the room they reference (Office, Conference Room, Toilet Room, General Stair, Mechanical,

Rodent Euthanasia, etc.) and use the “SIGNAGE-INSIDE ROOM” for those that are inside the room they

reference (Stair egress, Room Occupancy, “Employees Must Wash Hands,” etc.). You want to make sure

that each sign is the correct type because you will use the associated room information to schedule the

information that will appear on each sign (more about this later).

When creating each type, give it a type mark value and include that value at the beginning of the name,

along with a few words of description.


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Figure 5: Naming convention for types. This consistency adds another layer of QC which is

important when doing something as detail-oriented as a signage package.

Tag Families

I created a single Generic Model tag that gives me three different options (types):

• Type Mark

• Mark

• Type Mark and Mark

The tag has simple visibility parameters so that I can make them all in one family.

THE SHAPES OF THE TAGS ARE GENERIC ANNOTATION FAMILIES NESTED WITHIN THE TAG FAMILY. DO THIS TO

MAKE SURE THAT YOUR LEADER TOUCHES THE SHAPE AND DOESN’T LEAVE A GAP WHEN YOU HAVE DIFFERENT

SHAPES WITHIN THE SAME FAMILY CONTROLLED BY VISIBILITY PARAMETERS.


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Figure 6: Top left is the family with all elements visible, other three are the three types within.

Step 4 – Placing and Tagging Signs

Now that all the sign types are created, start placing them in your model. First make sure that you are in the

signage views, that your current workset is set to “Signage,” and that workset is set to be visible in that view.

TIP: CREATE A VIEW FILTER TO MAKE YOUR SIGNS A BRIGHT COLOR AND BOLD, SO THAT YOU CAN EASILY

FIND THEM AS YOU INITIALLY PLACE THEM AND SEE WHERE YOU MIGHT HAVE SOME MISSING. YOU CAN SET

THIS IN THE VIEW TEMPLATE AND EASILY CHANGE IT WHEN IT’S TIME TO PRINT.

I recommend starting in one corner of the building on the lowest floor and going methodically around and

then up the building. How you place the signs is really up to you. You can place all of the same type (offices)

and then come back and place the next type (conference rooms) or do them at the same time, making

sure to hit every room.

Don’t worry if you discover that you need additional sign types as you are going along, since you can just

make them on the fly.


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Figure 7: Piece of a plan with the three types of tags visible in the same view.

Tagging

How you tag depends on your method of labelling your signs. I recommend not tagging every single sign,

just the atypical ones, like the wayfinding signs, special ones like “max occupancy,” and any that don’t

meet the standard mounting height detail. You can tag with either the mark value, type mark value, or both.

Step 5 – Working Model Element Schedule

Now that all the model elements have been placed, you should create your schedules. I always have both

working and printing versions of my schedules, so that I don’t have to keep hiding/unhiding columns. We do

it for model views, why not schedules views, too?

Note that because we will be using key schedules to help fill out or signage schedule, there will be some

back and forth between the two schedules, adding parameters as they are created. You will not initially

have the parameters “TYPE VALUE” and “MESSAGE” available to add. The former will be created when we

create the key schedule in the next step and the latter you can create now, as a custom project parameter,

or when you create your key schedule, adding it to your working schedule when you add the “TYPE VALUE”

parameter.


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Figure 8: Properties for the working schedule, type generic model.

This is what my working schedule looks like. In this instance, I have created a “generic model” schedule. I

have color coded it to help me remember which column is which parameter. This working schedule is

category generic model.


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Figure 9: Working signage schedule (generic model)

I always shade my headers so that I know that this is a working schedule. I then will also shade any column

that I would typically not want to see on a sheet. In this example, I have used different colors to help me

identify different types of parameters. The green is the key value, tying this schedule to its key schedule. The

cyan columns are the family and type information, and the red are other hidden fields. All of these fields

either are there to sort, or to help me verify that my modelling and its associated information is correct.

Step 6 – Key Schedules

One of the powerhouses of signage in Revit is key schedules. Key schedules make it quick and easy to fill out

repetitive information and then change that information when needed. I will run through how to initially

create the schedule and then circle back on entering the information in the next section.

Parameters

In this example, I am using out of the box parameters and a few custom, project parameters. I have not

created any shared parameters because I am not trying to put them in tags or other families. If you would

like to do so, then you will have to create your custom parameters as shared parameters.

A few things to think about as you are making custom parameters:

• Shared vs. Project/Family: Only project parameters can be used in a key schedule.

• Type of Parameter “Text” vs. “Multiline Text”

o A comparison of these two types is in the next section – Step 7 – Entering Data.

Remember the KISS philosophy (Keep It Simple Stupid) and don’t make something shared if it doesn’t need

to be, but make it shared if you think there is the possibility that it might need to be later (oh Revit and it’s

endless Catch-22s!)


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Creating a Key Schedule

To create a key schedule, go to View > Schedule > Schedule/Quantities, pick the family category, and

choose the radio button for “Schedule keys.” Give the schedule and the key value a name.

Figure 10: New Key Schedule Dialog Box

You will then get a dialog box to add parameters. Any existing parameters that are available to you will be

there on the left and you can create any new ones that you might need right from here.

Parameters to Add:

• System parameter “Comments”

• Custom parameter “MESSAGE” – Type of Parameter: Text

o This is for the text that will go on the sign

• Custom parameter “INTERNAL NOTES” – Type of Parameter: Text

o This is for any notes that you might have about the sign type, to help you and your team know

when to use it. Can’t stress the value of constant and open communication when it comes to

Revit.


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Figure 11: Key Schedule Properties with custom project parameters.

Now you will have a schedule without any data.

Figure 12: Key Schedule Initial View

To add rows, click the “add row” button in the ribbon.

Figure 13: Adding rows to your key schedule.

After you’ve added a bunch of rows and entered information, it will look like this.


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Figure 14: Key schedule partially filled out.

I know that I’ve skipped a few steps here, so the next section will discuss how to get the information into your

schedules in an efficient and accurate manner.

Step 7 – Entering Data

If you have worked with schedules for any length of time, you’ve realized that in the working view of the

schedule, you can’t see multiple lines of text. This issue has been partially resolved with the addition of a new

“Type of Parameter” category added in 2016 – Multiline Text. In testing that with this workflow, I have

discovered the following list of pros and cons. For this workflow, I am sticking with the “text” type because of

my integration of the Import/Export Excel add-in (explained following this chart).

PROS CONS

Text • Interfaces without issue with

Import/Export Excel.

• Harder to edit cells where you need

hard returns

Multiline

Text

• You can view the text of the cell in the

schedule view as it appears on the

sheet

• Only compatible with 2016 and later.

• If used as a shared parameter, your

shared parameter file will no longer

work with files in versions prior to 2016

• The extra line breaks become extra

lines after using Import/Export Excel.

Editing in Excel

To make the editing of your schedules easier, there’s a free Autodesk Revit add-in called “Import/Export

Excel” that can be used to push information from your model out to Excel and then import it back into Revit.

This is very useful for instances like this, but there are some limitations that you should be aware of.

• You can’t use it for all types of schedules, but it will work for the three schedule types that we use

here (Generic Model Schedule/Quantities, Room Schedule/Quantities, and Generic Model Key

Schedule).


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• You can’t add rows or columns in Excel and have them push back to Revit. To get around this, create

the extra rows you need in Revit and then push out to Excel and fill in the information. You can always

create more extra rows in your key schedule than you think you need.

Once you’ve downloaded and installed the add-in, it appears in its own tab.

Figure 15: Activating the add-in.

To export, choose the schedules that you would like to edit in Excel and choose a destination folder. You’ll

notice that not all the schedules in your project appear in this list. The BIM One website will tell you which

schedule types you can and cannot export using this add-in.

Figure 16: Choosing the schedule(s) to export for editing in Excel.

Now you can edit the schedule easily in Excel. Do not add rows or columns, they won’t be brought back into

Revit.


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Figure 17: The exported result, on first open.

It looks a little strange, but you can adjust the columns to make it easier to use. Notice that the rows where I

had hard returns within the cells don’t appear as such. Just double click on those cells and they will fix

themselves.


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Figure 18: Schedule adjusted and edited in Excel.

Notice that you are missing column A. This is because this column contains the Revit assigned unique

identifiers that map this information back to Revit. These automatically generated unique identifiers are also

the reason why you can’t add rows in Excel and have them appear in Revit. Leave that column alone, so

that you don’t accidentally mis-map something back to Revit.

Once you have finished editing the schedule, save and close the Excel file. Now go back to Revit and using

the same add-in, switch to the “Import” tab, browse to the Excel file, and choose the schedule you would

like to bring back.


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Figure 20: Importing data back to Revit from Excel.

You can go back and forth as many times as you want between Excel and Revit, just remember that

you must add the blank rows first in Revit before editing in Excel if that’s what you want.

You can use this same process to edit the signage schedule itself, for the one-off signs that won’t

have a schedule key value associated with them.

Step 8 – Creating Schedules for Sheets

Below are two different approaches to a signage schedule. Which you choose to use depends on how you

would like to display the information and which works better for your project. Just like most things in Revit,

there is no overall best way, but instead multiple best ways, depending on your particular set of

circumstances.

Method #1 – Generic Model Schedule (schedule the signs)

The first option is to create a generic model category schedule. This way you will see all the signs and their

associated rooms. In this schedule, rooms without signs won’t appear in the schedule (closets, lobby/foyer,

corridors) and so you won’t have to mark them as without signage.

Figure 19: Left image is before editing in Excel and right image is after.


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Figure 21: The settings for a generic model schedule.


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Method #2 – Room Schedule with Embedded Generic Model Schedule (schedule every

room and the signs associated)

In this second method, create a Room category schedule with an embedded Generic Model category

schedule. All the rooms will appear with their associated signs and if a room does not have any signage,

then you can add the text “no signage required” or something similar. The benefit of this is that you have a

double check to make sure that you have signs everywhere that you need them because you see every

room in the schedule. Below are the settings that I used for this schedule and its embedded schedule.

Figure 22: The settings for a room schedule with an embedded generic model schedule.

Notice that there are two parameters called “DummyField1” and “DummyField2” in my room schedule. I

created these so that the columns of the room schedule and the embedded generic model schedule

would line up the way that I wanted. These parameters are empty.


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Figure 23: The settings for the embedded generic model schedule.


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Figure 24: Schedule view of signage schedule type room schedule with an embedded

generic model schedule. Columns C and D are the DummyField parameters in the room

schedule. This was so that the “Comments” parameters for both the room schedule and the

generic model schedule would line up.


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Figure 25: Sheet view of the room schedule method.

Which will you choose?

Method #1

Pros:

• Simpler schedule

• Scheduling the signs, so easier to sort and group

• Takes up less space in the drawing set

Cons:

• Potential to miss rooms because you don’t have a comprehensive list of all the rooms in the schedule

Method #2

Pros:

• See every room – good built-in double check that you have signage in all required locations

Cons:

• More complicated schedule to set up

• Possibility of graphic confusion with the schedule

• Takes up more space in the drawing set

Step 8 – Detailing Your Signs

You have probably already sketched out generally what the signs are going to look like to determine what

types you need. Now I will walk you through how to use detail components to create elevations of your signs.

I created a few different detail components with parameters. I based the dimensions off a standard line from

a sign manufacturer. I made one component for the message part of the sign, another for the frame

elements, and a third for the arrows used on the wayfinding signs. I probably could have built these all into a


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single super family, but I try not to make my families too complicated with too many visibility parameters

because then they are very hard for someone else to manipulate in the future (what if I win the lottery, quit

my job, and move to that brownstone in the West Village that I’ve always wanted?!).

Figure 26: Family used for all the message parts of the signs.

Figure 27: Family used for the frame elements.


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Figure 28: Family used for the arrows on the wayfinding signs.

These elements were placed together in drafting views to create each sign elevation. I just used text in the

model for the text elements and filled regions for the symbols (toilet rooms and stairs). The symbols could be

detail components, too, if this is something that you will be doing a lot of.


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Figure 29: Sample sign elevations. The detail components are tagged with their family/type

names, for reference.

Conclusion

I hope that this presentation has given you some good ideas of how to create a stellar signage package

that is not too difficult to produce, provides a lot of value to your clients, and allows you a great deal of

control over the final product. This workflow should be a starting point to get you started and I would be

highly disappointed if you didn’t make it your own, improving and revising per your individual needs and

circumstances. As I tell all my customers, I teach you how to do something so that I don’t have to do it for

you and to empower you to innovate and problem solve. My greatest hope is for you then to find a better

way and teach it back to me because then we all win.

finding your way: using revit to create the best signage package … · 2021. 7. 28. · finding...

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