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Monday, October 04, 2010

Revit MEP Pipe Rise/Drop Symbols

I recently had a support call asking about piping rise/drop symbols in Revit MEP. I thought I would share to help explain why Revit MEP shows a rise symbol versus the drop symbol.

First of all, users can change the desired symbol to be used in the Piping Setting dialog box. The defaults are set to a closed circle for rises and a 3/4 circle with a line for drops.


When drawing Pipe, Revit MEP looks at the View Range, the Level Heights, and the height of the pipe to know what to show. If the pipe is drawn between the bottom and the top of the view range, the pipe will show a drop symbol. If the pipe is drawn through the top range, the pipe will show a rise symbol.



You will need to verify what the height of the levels are and the height of the pipe, and then set your top range to be below the upper pipe to show the riser symbol.

A Plan Region can also be used to allow you to have a different View Range around a particular pipe.

Hope this helps clear up the rise versus drop debate.

Mike

9 comments:

Unknown said...

Is there any way to change the size that the symbol shows up on the drawings. I typically use 1/8 scale and it throws in a huge symbol. If I switch to 1/4 scale view its perfect, but obivously goes back to the larger size when I would put it in a sheet and specify to use 1/8 scale.

Mike Massey said...

Yes. Simply change the Pipe Fitting Annotation Size in the Mechanical Settings. By default it is set to 1/8". You can decrease thise to make the symbols smaller. Revit will scale the symbols to plot them to be the size you indicate here.

SpunkyMom said...

In 2012 I have read on an Autodesk forum that you know go Project Units > Piping > Pipe Size > there the autodesk dude directs them to change the Rounding to below 1/8". I gave it a shot in a fresh test project and this works. BUT - in a current project someone attempted to change as you describe in the Mechanical Settings. Once attempting to edit here, many work and saves later, it won't allow me to fix. Do you know of a fix and why editing this setting was moved in 2012?? Thanks a million in advance!

SpunkyMom said...

wow - do I feel slow :D
Found the answer to my previous question... so lowering the project units allows you to then go back into the mechanical settings and set smaller there...
makes sense but really sucks that it defaults and existing upgraded model to 1/8" for rounding. Guess we can modify our MEP Template with a lower setting to prevent confusion on future projects also. Thanks! Carla

Anonymous said...

For some rewason my Duct Rise Drop option is missing from My mechanical Settings. Any idea why?

Mike Massey said...

In the 2012 release it has been moved to the System family settings. In Project Browser, scroll down to Families, then open either the Pipe Systems or Duct Systems. If you double click on the System name it will appear in the Type Properties. This will allow you to use different symbols for different systems.

Anonymous said...

Is there any way to create custom symbols for duct risers/droppers?

Mike Massey said...

The current release does not allow to create custom symbols. Look for new added symbols soon!

Anonymous said...

Cannot get a plan region to work with rise/drops for pipe or duct. the top of view range for the view always seems to dictate.