Creating a Room Occupancy Tag in Revit Architecture

Will Harris
Book & Video Author

Are you a designer using Revit Architecture like it’s the next version of AutoCAD by drawing drafting lines and text to an egress view for occupancy loads?  Do you want the occupancy load tag attached to the room?  Do you want to schedule the occupancy data in your room schedule?  This tutorial will guide you in creating an occupancy load tag that will be parametric and make an aspect of your design life a bit easier.

The Occupancy load tag is made up of the following components:

• Room Tag Family
• Detail Lines
• Labels
• Shared Parameters

Here is a quick overview of the procedure we will use:

• Create a new Room Tag Family
• Build the “look” of your Room Tag
• Use Shared Parameters to add necessary labels
• Load the Room Tag into a project
• Add the Shared Parameters to your project
• Use the Room Tag and Schedule the data

Let’s start with the end.  Below you will see the structure of the overall concept of creating this Room Tag.

Start a new room Tag Family

1. Start a new Room Tag Family by going to File > New > Family.

2. Navigate to the Annotation folder and select the Room Tag.rfa file.

Creating the Linework and Text

You need to lay out the basic linework that will make up the tag. This is really simple—you are just drawing lines in the family editor.

1. Using the Lines tool, draw the lines for your tag, including a 1” x 1” rectangle and 3/16” header space, centered and equalized on the reference planes.

Text in annotation families will display just as you have typed it.  You will show both the Occupancy Load and the Room Type in this tag. 

2. Using the Text tool, add the heading texts, Occupancy Load and Room Type, centered in the appropriate location in the tag.

Placing Labels

Labels can be tricky, but the label is just the place holder for the data specified in the model.  When we load this tag into a project, then tag a room with it, the “labels” will display information based on that room.
 
1. Select the Label tool from the Design Bar.

2. Click to place a new label in the tag, select the Occupancy parameter, and add the parameter to the label.

3. Check that the label looks right.

Create New Shared Parameter for Room Type

This is the tricky part—as there is no parameter for Room Type, you will have to create a Shared Parameter for it. 

1. Select the Label tool, click to place a new label, click Add Parameter, and click Select.

Now we have to use a “Shared Parameter File.” If you don’t have a Shared Parameter File, you will have to create one.  All a Shared Parameter File is a text file that sits somewhere on your network.  As this is an example, I suggest you create one on your desktop for testing. 

2.  Create a text file with the name Shared Parameters on the desktop.

All shared parameters are placed under a group, so you will have to create a new group to hold your Room Type parameter.

3.  Create a new Shared Parameter Group with the name, Room Information.

4.  In the Room Information group, create a new shared parameter called Room Type.

You have created a new Shared Parameter.  Now you will have to use that Shared Parameter in your Label.

5. Using the Label tool, place the Room Type label in the tag you had created.

Using the Tag in a Project

You will want to save the Room Tag before loading it into a project.  Up to this point, you have been working on a Family whose name is “Family 1.” If you load this Family into a project, you will start tagging rooms with a “Family 1” Room tag.  This default nomenclature is non-descriptive.  So save the newly created room tag.

1. Save the Tag with the file name, Occupancy Load.

2. Load the Tag into a project

3. Place the Tag in a Room.

Recall that you had to create a Shared Parameter in the Revit family, and then use that Shared Parameter in a Label in the tag.  Now you have loaded the family into a project, when you select the tag, you will see a red ”?” as shown below. The reason is that there is something in the tag that the Revit project doesn’t understand.

You have to tell the project what that tag’s Label means.  This is accomplished by adding a Project Parameter.
 
4.  From the Settings pull down menu, select the Project Parameters option. Add Room Type as a Shared Parameter following the sequence of steps shown below.

5.  Set the Shared Parameter to the Rooms category.

We have now tied the Shared Parameter to the Rooms category and therefore to Room Tags in this project. Once you add a shared parameter, double check that the tag works.

6. Select the Occupancy Load tag, and change the Room Type to Office.

 
Not only does this methodology make room schedules easier, it also shows you how to effectively utilize shared parameters within a project.  Shared parameters give you additional flexibility by creating custom parameters needed for your Revit objects that can be scheduled within your design project.  Schedules are just another view of the model, so now you can change the room Occupancy Load or Room Type in either your room schedule or the Occupancy Load tag.  That’s the raw power of BIM.

About the Author

Will Harris is the founder and president of Will2Play, Inc, a company devoted to web-based training for Revit as well as other key software solutions for the AECO industry. Will2Play currently provides classes on Revit Families and Revit Management. Will is the host of a weekly webcast Rockstar Hour (Free Revit Training). He can be reached at willharris@will2play.com.

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