Create a more efficient title sheet by modifying the title block and adding useful parameters. This article explores a step-by-step method to add project information parameters, set visibility parameters, and arrange data neatly in the title block.
Key Insights
- Customize the title block to display project-specific information, eliminating the need for repetitive data entry. This can include the project name, address, and other relevant details, which can be entered as parameters.
- Establish visibility parameters to control the display of added elements in the title block. By doing so, you can choose when specific details appear on the title block, avoiding clutter or overlap with floor plans.
- The final arrangement of the title block should be clean and organized. Consider the space for longer elements like the sheet name and revision description, and ensure all details are accurately placed for a clear, professional presentation.
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For the title sheet, what we're going to do is modify the title block to add some parameters here, and this is a useful trick that you can apply to any title block to help prevent repeating unnecessary information. I can edit my title block by selecting it and choosing "edit family, " then I can add information to the title block family that I want to have translate to a project title or different lines on the sheet. There’s a list of things you can do here, and we’re going to look at a couple of them.
So I want to create a box here, and I’ll draw a couple of lines. I’ll draw a line here, about seven inches down, which looks right, and then I’ll extend it across. I’ll turn it back, and then do the same thing, maybe about seven inches across. The reason we do this is that this area will hold some project information, and then we’ll add a couple renderings here and a big project title there.
I’ll take this line and extend it across; these are line elements specific to our title block. We can create a visibility parameter that allows me to turn it on or off whenever I want it to appear. I can do this with a parameter or with text, and I think the best way to do this is with a parameter. We can use this label parameter, then I can specify the size. A quarter inch is fine, but we may want to make it a little bigger.
I’ll select here, and that opens my "edit label" box, then I can pick the label I want to use. In this case, we’ll use "project name" and hit OK. The project name will now appear here, and I’ll make this a little larger because I know it will take up more space than what you see here. I can add another one using the copy trick I showed earlier, then I’ll edit the label and add "project address" as well.
Now with "project name" and "project address, " we can add that information. You’ll notice, we have "project name" here, and again, here. This parameter has already been established in our project as BIM 301.
This will now show up as "BIM 301" across the top, or whatever we choose to change it to. That’s the great part. Of course, we don’t want all of this to appear on every sheet because we already have our floor plans centered here.
If I did that, we’d end up seeing this information, with lines all over the place, which isn’t ideal. We’ll get more specific.
If I select all of these elements, you’ll see that the parameter in our instance parameter is visible, and there’s a box here that allows me to associate it with a family parameter. When I click on it, there aren’t any right now, but I can add one using the button here.
By adding a parameter, I can name it something as simple as "title sheet, " because this information is specific to our title sheet. I can make it an instance parameter, which is important because if I don’t, I’d need to create a type for the title block to control. We don’t want that.
This is just a matter of finalizing things, but we’ll place it under the visibility parameters so we can find it easily. If you leave everything under "other, " your parameters will be disorganized, which is poor practice.
Everything looks good here. Go ahead and double-check your results. Make sure this is what you have, then click OK.
Here’s another trick I use because I only want this to appear on one sheet. I’ll go to my family types, and this is the type we’re using: the VTCI title block with the E1 30 × 42.
I want this off by default, as I only want it on for my title sheet. If I leave it off by default, it won’t appear when we create new sheets. Then I can turn it on for just that one sheet.
Click OK, then load into the project.
It asks if we want to override the existing version and parameter values. I’ll select the option to match the parameter values with those in the family we just created, and nothing should change here. If I select the title block, I can now see that I have a visibility parameter for the title sheet.
When I select it, everything appears here. I can then enter the address, and I’ll just put VTCI’s address. Oh, that wouldn’t get you there.
Alright, that’s correct. Now we have the project title, BIM 301, and the project address.
Now we can add our sheet index, which we created earlier, to the sheet. I’ll just nudge it into the corner to sit on the grid.
I always extend the sheet name and revision description, as those tend to be the longest. The current revision will always be just one letter, so it’s small.
We can adjust the space for other elements and move them into place; it looks good now. Now we have our sheet index in place.
We have our title block with the parameters set up. Now we just need to get this ready and print the PDF.