By John Flanagan
Visibility Parameter
An interesting parameter of all the solid forms in the family editor is the visibility property. This property appears as a check box on the property’s palette, and it makes the selected object invisible. In this blog we will use a component table family to explore a simple example of when you might want to use this feature. In the table family illustrated below we will use the visibility parameter to make the visibility of the bottom shelf optional.
First select the bottom shelf. Next, click the little box to the right of the visibility tab in the properties palette and create a new Yes/No type parameter. Name the parameter – Show Shelf. Group the parameter under Graphics and make sure that Type is selected. Click OK twice. This will grey out the visible parameter and it will put an equal sign on the button to let you know that it is being controlled parametrically.
Now click Family Types and add a new type that uses the bottom shelf setting. Switch to the type that you want to create (600 x 600 x 760mm), click new to copy the existing one and type 600 x 600 x 760mm no Shelf. Click OK and uncheck the Show Shelf tick box. Click apply.
The shelf greys out to convey that it is now invisible. To truly see it become invisible we need to load it into a project.
Place two desks in a project. Select one of the desks and in the Type Selector list select the no shelf option. In a 3D view you will see that one table shows the bottom shelf and the other table does not.
This is a simple example of controlling the visibility of an object with a yes/no parameter. The use of the yes/no parameter to control visibility is a powerful way to add variety to your family types that would otherwise only be possible by creating duplicate copies of the entire family.