Align Tags using Dynamo!

Tags can get a bit messy in our drawings... In this video I show how you can create a simple alignment script which can horizontally or vertically align sets of tags to a reference element. This logic could also be applied to many other categories/purposes - your creativity is the only limit!
I hope you enjoy the session and learn something new! Feel free to comment any feedback/questions below, or follow my channel if you enjoyed this.
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Dynamo: dynamobim.org/
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[@AussieBIMGuru]

You may have better luck using 'Get/set' tag header location from the Rhythm package - I've been made aware some tag types don't work with getlocation.

[@bartoudemoleman6571]

Very nice script! If I want to align window tags or align elevations it doenst seem to work. So I replaced the 'getlocation' commands with the 'getheadposition' command but it doesnt seem to work. doe you have any solutions?

[@AussieBIMGuru]

Maybe the element.movebyvector node? You will probably need to use the start/end.transaction nodes either side of the moving node also.

[@bartoudemoleman6571]

@@AussieBIMGuru IF i try the following warning appears: "Warning: There is no version of Geometry.Translate that accepts argument type(s) (Function, Autodesk.DesignScript.Geometry.Vector, int[])." at the Geometry.Translate command

[@AussieBIMGuru]

@@bartoudemoleman6571 it sounds like you used geometry.translate? The node i mean is different, element.movebyvector

[@bartoudemoleman6571]

@@AussieBIMGuru instead of the get location node i use the ''transaction start - element move by vector - transaction end'' node. when i run a test the warning appears 1 node after the transactionend node (the geometry.translate node).

[@mauriciopalomares9507]

Absolute beast! Will be using this method for structural detailing, thanks GURU

[@AussieBIMGuru]

You're welcome! There is also a handy app that does this if you're looking for something like that: www.bim42.com/products/align.html

[@ganbaatargforce9446]

VERY USEFUL TUTORIAL, APPRECIATE WHAT YOU HAVE DONE :D

[@AussieBIMGuru]

Glad it was helpful!

[@ganbaatargforce9446]

@@AussieBIMGuru Sir, I am having some problems when follow your script and run, there is some error called "Internal error, please report: Dereferencing a non-pointer." above Element.Id, and also such errors appears above geometry getlocation, setlocation etc.

[@AussieBIMGuru]

Hrm some elements can't be referenced by Id well I believe such as keynotes, so it may be a case of this?

[@Tomuki27]

Thank you once again for a very useful script. I'm hoping to find the time to go through all your dynamo videos and understand better its functions. In the meantime I can't resist following your scripts so I tried this one for aligning structural framing tags. I made the script using the rhythm nodes as suggested and it works great on plans. I'm assuming on elevations we need to use the z axis?

[@AussieBIMGuru]

For elevations you would need to work in the plane of the elevation view and align on that plane's X/Y respective axis.

[@Tomuki27]

@@AussieBIMGuru Thank you Gavin, I appreciate your work and you sharing all this knowledge!

[@jinwookkevinhan1975]

Great video!

[@AussieBIMGuru]

Thanks!

[@filipspirovski6320]

Hello, amazing work snd great content, I would like to use this script for a keynote alignment, however i get the error when I try to get the location saying that the location of the element its not a valid curve, how could i get its location? Thank you 🙏🏼!

[@AussieBIMGuru]

Try Tags.GetHeadPosition and Tags.SetHeadPosition from Rhythm.

[@michaeltravis4944]

Is this on your GITHUB? Love the videos. Definitely helps the learning curve

[@AussieBIMGuru]

Unfortunately I forgot to save/file this one before deleting it! Happens from time to time...

[@meonbim4299]

nice sharing. thanks for your effort

[@AussieBIMGuru]

You're welcome Nazrul. It's the only way we can truly improve our industry knowledge!

[@ltdbimexpert8542]

Very elegant solution. I really like how you work with Dynamo. BIM42's Align plugin is actually working with Revit 2020. Just read our colleague's Gergely Dudas comment under the plugin description.

[@AussieBIMGuru]

Thanks! Awesome... definitely downloading this tool - huge fan of it! Gergely is the hero of the comments section for sure there haha. Hard to believe it's still free.

[@ltdbimexpert8542]

@@AussieBIMGuru Same here. :) Using it for every project in the past two years.

[@moelprenselprens1425]

Its amazing workflow 'cheers Is there any idea to work for rotated Tags also Thank you

[@AussieBIMGuru]

It depends if you mean the tags or the views are rotated. You can rotate coordinate systems in Revit so you may need to use this to correct the calculations if the whole setup is different - hard to say though.

[@helenvx7]

Thanks for sharing this. It's awesome. I have a question. What if the viewport has been rotated in the project? How can we align them if they are not orthogonal? Thanks

[@AussieBIMGuru]

Hrm that's a bit more difficult and I'm not 100% sure how I'd go about it... you would probably need to enter the rotation value of the viewport into the script as well and rotate the coordinate system you're using in Dynamo to account for it in all the vectors and lines you generate.

[@deniz664]

So geometry translate says I have to increase the geometry working range. But the catch is settings drop-down is missing from the menu ? How can I get my settings back or can I perform this action with a shortcut ?

[@AussieBIMGuru]

In later versions they moved this setting to the preferences menu on the first dropdown.

[@jothish7510]

Hi, You did a good job🎉 I want to make the script for alignment of Structural rebar Tag. But if i used Element. Getlocation it shows error. What is the solution to resolve this?

[@AussieBIMGuru]

Try the 'Tag set location' node from Genius Loci instead.

[@jothish7510]

Thank you for suggesting this @AussieeBIMGuru. But i can’t find that node in Dynamo 2023. Could you please help with this?

[@AussieBIMGuru]

@@jothish7510 it should be in the genius loci package, likely under the tags category.

[@jothish7510]

@@AussieBIMGuruThank you!

[@jothish7510]

@@AussieBIMGuru I got the node and used in script but Tag.get location shows null only.

[@WietseStarsz]

Nice video! Why not set the x location of the tags equal to the x location of the reference tag for a vertical align? Same for horizontal align but with y 😄 I think this would be way easyer

[@AussieBIMGuru]

Yes it would probably save a bit of time!

[@jamalaouzal9961]

I got stuck in the script at Element.getlocation. I got an error: Warning: Element.GetLocation the operation failed. The location of the structural member is not a valid curve. Is there anything I can do to solve the issue?

[@AussieBIMGuru]

It sounds like you're tagging a structural beam - locations of beams are a bit different to some elements who are represented by a point. I would use the element.boundingbox node, then the clock bounding box properties node. You can get the centre of the bounding box of the element this way, which should be close to the centre of the element in plan hopefully.

[@jamalaouzal9961]

@@AussieBIMGuru Yes you're right. I tried your scripts on structural beam tags. I tried your solution and got a warning with element.boundingbox node: get-BoundingBox operation has failed. Did I miss something?

[@AussieBIMGuru]

@@jamalaouzal9961 it's a fairly generic warning. Can you send me an email and screenshot instead? Too hard to troubleshoot in words only.

[@jamalaouzal9961]

@@AussieBIMGuru I've just sent U the email. please do check it

[@AussieBIMGuru]

@@jamalaouzal9961 received. Will check tomorrow sometime.

[@immi85]

Sometimes It's really hard to select multiple elements with dynamo node. I wish dynamo have Ctrl+click selection method. (After 4-5 videos I heard " My favourite node" 😄)

[@AussieBIMGuru]

Yeah a 2 stage selection would be great. John Pierson on twitter found a way to do prefiltered selection but it requires C# i think. Love me a bool mask haha

[@immi85]

@@AussieBIMGuru yes John Pierson is great person he helped me on dynamofourm.

[@mbudzko]

Have you guys ever tried to align tags in elevation views? I didn't manage to get any predictable results.

[@AussieBIMGuru]

You would need to use the view direction as a base plane to compare and align. The revit api can do this but it would be a bit more complex than this workflow and you'd need to work on that different plane for each step.

[@beano6452]

Genius.

[@AussieBIMGuru]

Cheers!

[@vukvukanic1095]

Thank you for sharing. I used a different approach. After selection of elements, node Vector.By.Two.Points with Vector.Reverse allows you to define the Element.Set.Location position without the use of "helper lines". Posted the script on the dynamo forum: forum.dynamobim.com/t/align-tag/47554 My question is there a downside to my method that you can shed some light?

[@AussieBIMGuru]

Yours is a simpler way to solve it I think, I like it! One challenge both are scripts face is when Dynamo north doesn't match Revit north for orientation. A quick coordinate system rotation in Dynamo could solve it though!