What are Sheet Coordinates? How do they Work?

Revit
1

Sorry if this is a really basic question. I’m still very new to Dynamo.

Certain nodes request inputs in the form of sheet coordinates (currently I’m looking at the ScheduleOnSheet nodes). I’m curious what kind of input this is expecting, and, further, what sheet coordinates even mean. My assumption is that sheets must have an origin point somewhere, and that the x coordinate would move the point to the right, while the y coordinate would move the point up and down. Here’s a few specific questions I would like answers to:

  1. How do I know where the origin point of a specific sheet is? Is there a way in Revit to display the origin point of a sheet?

  2. What units do the coordinates work with? If my document is set to feet and inches, would (1.0, 0) be 1’ or 1" away from my origin?

  3. What happens if I plug in a Z coordinate? Is it just ignored? Point.ByCoordinates nodes seem to output a Z by default, so can this even be used as a sheet coordinate? Or is there another node that is better suited for sheet coordinates?

Knowing the answers to these should be enough to get me going. Feel free to share anything else that might be helpful to know about working with points and coordinates in Dynamo. Thanks in advance!

2

  1. You’ll need to check the construction of the titleblock family that frames the sheet. Ideally the corner of the sheet is 0,0 (so that your Thing On Sheet insertion coordinates logically line up), but this isn’t always the case as firms that construct their own titleblock families aren’t necessarily aware that this level of automation can exist and start building the family in open space in the family editor.

  2. I believe it’s Dynamo default measurement units (feet)

1 Like
3

You’re correct. Sheets have coordinates.

1. How do I know where the origin point of a specific sheet is? Is there a way in Revit to display the origin point of a sheet?
The intent here is that you get the location of the title block in order to calculate the relative offset and coordinates for view placement.

2. What units do the coordinates work with? If my document is set to feet and inches, would (1.0, 0) be 1’ or 1" away from my origin?
Same as your project. If you’re working in feet-in then the coordinates are in feet-in.

3. What happens if I plug in a Z coordinate? Is it just ignored? Point.ByCoordinates nodes seem to output a Z by default, so can this even be used as a sheet coordinate? Or is there another node that is better suited for sheet coordinates?
There’s actually a 2D version of Point.ByCoordinates as well for use with 2D coordinate systems. Sheets don’t have/need a Z coordinate. A value here won’t do anything.

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4

Ahh so it’s tied to the titleblock. But I still don’t know how to find the origin point of the title block I’m using, is there any straightforward way to do this? I opened the titleblock family but there doesn’t seem to be the option in Visibility / Graphics to show / hide an origin point

5

It’s not actually tied to the title block. It’s just that your placement will likely be relative to the title block. Best practice would be to place the title block at the origin but the only way to do that is through the API.

Similarly, the “origin” of the title block is just defined by the origin references in the family. Once you know where the placement (origin) of the title block comes from, you know which direction you need to move relative to the placement to locate your views.