#9 - I Walk The Line...

Line based families rock. Truly. But why do we need a separate template to create one? Why can't you just say: "Revit, I want the length parameter to be the variable of a line-based input method." I've heard two great suggestions to do this. The first was to let us check "line based" in the Family Category and Parameters dialog and then pick the parameter it should use. The second was to do that but have the parameter you pick be the default. In the project, when placing such a family you could modify in the options bar which parameter it would use (obviously it would only display instance length parameters that aren't controlled by a formula) or uncheck a box and just place it using the default instance value from the family. Aside from letting us switch easily from one entry method to another without creating a new family from scratch, and giving the user more control over his placement method; this also opens up the ability integrate angle-based or radius based or any-other based elements we could dream up (and convince Autodesk to program). I'd love to be able to create a radial array formula for chairs in an auditorium and pick the radius to place it on instead of having to place the family and manually adjust it. Once again, this would give advanced family editors to streamline the UI side of placing and editing a family to meet end user's needs. That's why #9 is all about letting us choose to flip a line-based switch instead of having to start from a template with a reference line and a dimension (like, aren't we smart enough to do that ourselves...ummm, duh???).