Hanger Configurations

Hanger Configurations are the settings for inserting or modifying hangers and supports.

Hanger Configurations reads the files specified in the Configuration Files' Location. You can read more here on how to get sample configurations and set them up.

Basic Controls

The first setting in the configuration window is Grouping, which helps organize configurations.

You can assign configurations to different groups, as well as create, rename, or delete groups in the Grouping window. This window is accessible via the folder icon button.

Once you select a group, all configurations within it will be listed in the Configuration drop-down menu. The selected configuration is the active one being edited in this window.

Options to duplicate, rename, delete, or create new configurations are available under the […] button.

The For Whole Run functionality and Rule tabs (Rule 1, Rule 1.2, …) are explained in more detail in separate sections at the bottom of this article.

In short, Rules are different sets of instructions within a configuration.

The Active toggle determines whether a selected Rule is applied. It allows you to temporarily disable a Rule without deleting it.

You can also use the Description field next to it to clarify its purpose.

Hanger Selection

In this section, the Revit family to be inserted and the placement side of that family on the MEP element are specified.

Hangers Placed On is the category of Revit MEP elements with which this configuration works. Each configuration can only work with one category. Changing the Hangers Placed On value in one Rule will change values in all other Rules of the active configuration as well.

To select a hanger or support family, use the Browser Tool. Alternatively, use the Select Category and Select Family drop-downs.

Notes:

• MEP Hangers can only insert face-based or work plane-based families and only these families will appear on the list.

• The names of provided families start either with 'M_Hanger' or 'I_Hanger'. On the list, you might see more families that are components of the complete hanger families.

• It's possible to use families that you’ve created yourself, as long as they're face-based or work plane-based and have certain parameters needed to control their size. Read more about it here.

The Placement Side is where you specify where to place a family on an MEP element. In the most common situations, when hangers need to be attached to the structure above (e.g. Floor or Roof), the Top placement side is usually used. For hanger installation to the structure below, use Bottom placement.

The Left & Right is used for MEP elements by a vertical structure (e.g. Wall). It figures out which MEP element side is closest to the structure and places hangers there. Similarly, Top & Bottom will place hangers either on the Top or the Bottom, depending on where the closest structure is.

The rod position is usually a good indicator of the Placement Side. If a rod needs to go up from the MEP elements, use Top.

Structure Selection

In this section, you can specify where and what structures the software will look for to attach hangers and supports.

Search For - Surfaces

Start with the Search For setting. The Surfaces option means that the software will look for surfaces to attach hangers to. This is used in the most common situations, such as when dealing with flat structures like floors, roofs, or walls. When using this option, hangers will be spaced according to the Spacing settings.

The Searching Direction specifies which direction the software should look for structural elements. Use Up if the structural elements are above (the most typical case).

Make sure to select the Categories of structural elements for hangers to connect to (table on the left side). The MEP Hangers software will only look for the selected categories and ignore others. The list of categories changes based on the Search For and Search Direction values.

For best performance, select only the relevant categories instead of all available ones. This will improve processing speed.

If the specified structure isn't found when running a configuration, an error will occur, and no hangers will be placed.

Similarly, use the Down value in Searching Direction when supports are to be installed into the structure below (e.g., floor-standing supports). In this case, also make sure to change the Placement Side value to Bottom, since the supports are placed on the bottom side of MEP elements

For MEP elements next to a vertical structure (e.g., a wall), use the 'Left & Right' Searching Direction. This means the software will search both sides for attachment points. In this case, also use Left & Right as the Placement Side.

Search For - Virtual Intersections

The other Search For option is Virtual Intersections. When enabled, it ignores the Spacing settings and connects hangers to every line-based structural instance in the MEP element’s path.

A common use case for this is attaching supports to girders, trusses, I-beams, etc. It can also be used to create multi-level supports.

The Searching Direction option works the same when Virtual Intersections are used. However, with Virtual Intersections, you can also use the 'Up & Down' Searching Direction in combination with the 'Top & Bottom' Placement Side. This combination will place supports either on the top or bottom of MEP elements, depending on the location of the structural elements.

Similarly, use 'Left & Right' Searching Direction in combination with 'Left & Right' Placement Side to attach supports to every passing vertical instance (e.g., columns).

You can also specify -None- in the Search For setting. In that case, the software won’t search for structural elements and will place families with default values without adjusting their size based on the distance to structural elements.

Other settings

Several other settings influence where supports should be placed:

Select Family and Type – Use this drop-down (or the Browser Tool) to narrow down the structural elements to which hangers will attach. This option is only available when a single category is selected. Selecting Use All Types includes all other types of the selected family type.

Additional Filter – Allows you to create custom filters for structural elements. These filters must be True for hangers to connect to the structure.

Searching Distance (Min, Max) – Defines the range in which the software searches for structures in the specified Searching Direction. If a structure is found within this range, a hanger/support is placed.

This setting affects how long it takes to process a Rule. If structures are near MEP elements, reducing the Searching Distance can improve performance.

Do Not Place Details at Same Point – Prevents hangers from being placed if one already exists at the exact same location on the MEP element.

Search In Project – Specifies whether MEP Hangers should search for structures in the current model, linked models, or both.

MEP Element

Here you can set up filters for MEP elements. Hangers will only be placed if selected MEP elements fit the filter.

If selected MEP elements in the model don't fall in the given range of Length (Min, Max)' hangers for these elements will not be inserted.

Some use-cases of Length (Min, Max) filter:

• Often in Revit, we encounter MEP elements that are very short because the Fittings and Accessories divide MEP elements into segments. Having a minimal value for the Length specified in the configuration will prevent inserting hangers onto these short pieces.

• Having several Rules in a configuration and using regular spacing settings for long MEP elements in one Rule and using different spacing settings (e.g. just one hanger in the middle) for short pieces in another Rule.

The Host Filter allows filtering MEP elements by any parameter. All parameters from the MEP category with which this configuration works (Hangers Placed On setting) will appear here.

Use-cases of the Host Filter:

• Having several Rules in a configuration and for every Rule:

  • Filtering MEP elements by size and using different hangers or different spacing settings.

  • Filtering MEP elements by Type Name and use different hangers based on that. E.g., different hangers for copper and steel pipes or for rectangular/round ducts.

Spacing

This is where you define settings for the spacing of hangers on the MEP elements.

The 'Layout Direction' defines the start point and the direction for hanger placement. There are 4 possible options:

• Start End – distributes hangers in equal spacing throughout the length of the MEP element (most common)

• Start – begins placing hangers at the start of the MEP element and moves towards the end..

• End – begins placing hangers at the end of the MEP element and moves towards the start

• Center – begins placing hangers at the center of the MEP element and moves towards both ends.

'Layout Rule' determines the number of hangers that are being inserted and the spacing between them. The 'Layout Rule' options depend on the 'Layout Direction' and are:

• Maximal Spacing – places the least number of hangers equally spaced on the MEP element without exceeding the 'Maximal Spacing' field value between the hangers (most common).

• Fixed Number & Fixed Spacing – places hangers by the 'Fixed Spacing' field value but stops when the number of hangers reaches the value specified in the 'Fixed Number' field.

• Fixed Spacing – places hangers by the 'Fixed Spacing' field value.

• Fixed Number – places a set number of hangers equally spaced on the MEP element.

You can change where the distribution of hangers begins and ends using Offsets.

'Start Offset' defines the position of the first hanger from the start of the MEP element when using the 'Start End' or 'Start' Layout Direction.

'End Offset' defines the position of the first hanger from the end of the MEP element when using the 'Start End' or 'End' Layout Direction.

'Additional Offset' moves all hangers on the MEP element by a specified amount.

Also, the 'Rotate' option can rotate all hangers on the MEP element by a specified angle.

Rule tabs

Rules are configurations inside of the configuration.

Rule tabs (Rule 1, Rule 1.2, …) allow inserting multiple different hangers or hangers with different settings while using a single configuration.

Rules are carried out from left to right. This allows for hanger placement solutions with a single configuration like:

• Multi-level hangers when a unistrut hanger is being placed in Rule 1 and a hanger that connects to a unistrut from Rule 1 is being placed in Rule 2.

• Different hangers/spacing depending on the size of the MEP elements.

[+] button duplicates a selected Rule and [-] deletes it. And there can be up to 10 Rules in a configuration. Rules can be renamed by double-clicking their names. And you can change the order of Rules by dragging them.

The green color in the Rule name indicates that the Rule is active and the hanger family is selected. Yellow means that the hanger is selected but the Rule Active is set to False. Black indicates that the rule is inactive and no hanger is selected. Red means that the hanger family is missing.

Having many rules in a configuration can slow down the software because every Rule is applied to every element. For optimal results, find your balance between having many Rules in a configuration and using different configurations for different scenarios.

For Whole Run

Configurations are typically applied to selected MEP elements (Ducts, Pipes, Cable Trays, Conduits, and Fabrication Parts) individually. The For Whole Run allows for looking at selected elements as a whole.

When using a For Whole Run configuration, you can place hangers with consistent spacing on a run that has Fittings (tees, crosses, transitions, unions), Accessories, and multiple MEP elements.

Our software will treat MEP elements as one run until there's a change in direction (e. g. pipe elbow). If the gap between the MEP elements is larger than the value of the Max Gap, that is also considered as an end of one run and the start of another.

Some limitations of For Whole Run:

• When in use, the MEP Element section, where you can set up filters for MEP elements, becomes inactive.

• Hangers can only be placed on Revit categories of Ducts, Pipes, Cable Trays, Conduits and MEP Fabrication parts. If the hanger placement point lands on other categories, such as Fittings or Accessories, that point will be ignored and the software will move to the next one. But that doesn't restart the run and the spacing setting will remain unchanged for the remainder of the run.