Visible/Invisible?

Controlling visibility in a family can be interesting.  Do you want certain geometry to only display when a certain condition is met in your family?  If so, then today’s post is for you. 

I would like to talk about using a parameter in the family to control the visibility of an object using an If/then formula.   If/then statements are very powerful as formulas inside a family.  You can do all kinds of interesting and very cool things with them.   The way you use an If/then statement can vary with the type of parameter that you are using.  A parameter can be anyone of these types:

• Text
• Integer
• Number
• Length
• Area
• Volume
• Angle
• Slope
• Currency
• URL
• Material
• Yes/no

Anyone of these types can use an If/then statement in a formula to control its value.  Today, I want to talk about the Yes/No type and its use of If/then statements. 

Yes/No parameters are controlled a little bit differently than the other types.  The other types need a complex expression to determine the value of the parameter, while Yes/No only requires a statement.  If the statement is True then the value for the parameter is Yes (checked).  If the statement is False then the value for the Parameter is No (unchecked).

Let’s take a look at an example:

 

In this example, I have created a Yes/No Parameter in a family and created formula in the parameter that says if the parameter Length is equal to 4’ then the BoxVisible Parameter will be Yes. 

Your formulas can be much more complex than this if you want, but this is basically how it is done. 

The next step is to link the Yes/No parameter to the geometry that you want to control.  To do this, you will select the geometry in the family and open its element properties.  Next to is Visible parameter select the little box in the column with a heading of “=”.  You can then select your Yes/No parameter from the list.

 

Just like that you have created an If/then statement and a parameter to control the visibility of a piece of geometry in a family.  Go ahead and try it out.

Comments

[Marj]

Thank you! That was so easy to follow.

How do I make something NOT visible if Length = 4'