by John Flanagan
Global Parameters
Autodesk Revit has, since the 2016 release, been able to work with Global Parameters which can enhance this workflow inside your Revit Designs.
If you are acquainted with families and creating a parameter, you will recognise the interface, but with a global parameter there are no instance or type options or need to define as shared or family. They are simply a list of parameters that can be applied to various parts of a project to create consistency. Each parameter can have an equation associated with it, so fairly complicated equations could be used to update objects dimensions based on standards.
Creating a Global parameter
In the example below we have a number of rooms with single doors running down a corridor in a building. All of the four doors in the corridor need to be 150 mm from the nearest partition wall on the left. We could select each door in turn, then edit and lock the dimension. A better way would be to apply a global parameter to the first door on the left (it’s already at 150 mm). Once created, we can select the other three doors and apply the same global parameter. The doors adjust to the typical door jam distance of 150 mm.
Select a dimension and see the option to create a label in the working ribbon.
Use the option to create a parameter. It’s very important to have a good naming convention so that you can remember what it does.
Create Parameter for Door On The Left
Door Jams Labelled with Same Parameter
Once you have a parameter added to a dimension, you will see a little pencil next to it indicating it is controlled via global parameters.
Now just give all the dimensions you want to control that global parameter and there you have it.
Select any of the door jam parameters and click the pencil to access the global parameters dialogue box. Change the value from 150 mm to 300 mm and all of the doors move to 300 mm from the partition wall in each room.
To manage all your global parameters you will find the global parameters tab under Manage > Setting (panel) > Global Parameters.