BIM Q&A | How to Align and Lock a Circular Edge with a Reference Plane When Creating a 2W in Revit?
How can we align and lock the edge here? When aligning, only the circle’s center can be selected, not its edges.
Answer: To achieve this, you need to use nested families. Additionally, when creating a spherical shape, it must be linked to a reference plane.
Follow these detailed steps:
1. Create a Metric Standard Model Family 1 with a Spherical Model and Reference Plane
① Open the Front Elevation view. Draw a horizontal reference plane at any height and assign it a height parameter named H.
② Create the spherical shape and link it to the reference plane.
Use the ‘Rotate’ tool to generate the sphere. Select ‘Start-End Radius Arc’ and ‘Line’ as your drawing methods to define the contour.
Important: To link the sphere with the reference plane, capture the intersection point of two reference planes while drawing the contour. (Note: Whether or not you align and lock at this point is optional because capturing the intersection point automatically associates the geometry in Revit.)
③ Test the linkage by modifying the height parameter of the reference plane.
Go to ‘Family Types,’ adjust the H value of the reference plane, and observe whether the sphere moves accordingly.
2. Create a Metric Standard Model Family 2, Load Family 1, and Align the Sphere with a Reference Plane
① In Family 2, open the Front Elevation view, draw a horizontal reference plane at any height, and assign a parameter to it.
② Load the spherical family (Family 1) into Family 2. Align and lock the sphere to this new reference plane.
③ Adjust the height parameter H of the reference plane and verify that the sphere remains linked and moves accordingly.
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