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

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

Grouping

At the top of the configurations window, there is a selection for groups. In a drop-down below it, you will only see the configurations for the specified group. You can assign configurations to different groups, delete, rename or create new groups in the Grouping window which can be accessed through a button on the right side. 

Options to duplicate, rename, delete or create new configurations are under the ‘…’ button.

 ‘For Whole Run’ functionality is described in the Spacing paragraph. 

Rule tabs (Rule 1, Rule 2, …) are explained in greater detail in the separate paragraph at the bottom of this article.

Hanger Selection

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

‘Rule Active’ can be used to disable a Rule, without deleting the Rule itself. Green color text at the Rules tab indicates that this rule is active.

‘Hangers Placed On’ is the Category of the MEP elements for hangers to be placed on. The configuration will only work for the specified Category. This option affects all Rule tabs in the configuration.

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

MEP Hangers only works with face-based Revit families and the ‘Placement Side’ is where you specify where to place a family on the MEP element. For hangers under a horizontal structure, ‘Top’ placement side is usually used. For hangers above a horizontal structure – ‘Bottom’ placement. ‘Left & Right’ is used for MEP elements by the vertical structure (e.g. Wall). It figures out which side is closest to the structure and places hangers there. 

Structure Selection

On left the side of this section, you can select one or several structure Categories for hanger to connect to. ‘Select Family and Type’ field is only available when you have one Category selected. In here, you can narrow down your search to a Type of a Family. ‘Use All Types’ will use all types of the selected family type. Alternatively, you can use a ‘Browser Tool’ but it only works with Categories that have loadable families – Structural Framing, Structural Connections and Structural Columns.

MEP Hangers works by measuring distance from the Placement Side on the MEP elements to the structural elements. In ‘Searching Rule Class’ you specify a direction to measure - ‘Top & Bottom’ (for MEP elements above or below the horizontal structure) or ‘Left & Right’ (for MEP elements by the vertical structure). By using these options, hangers will be placed according to the Spacing settings. ‘Virtual Intersections’ are used to connect hangers to every structure instance that is in the MEP elements way and will ignore the Spacing settings.

‘Searching Rule Name’ further narrows down the measuring direction. For ‘Left & Right’ and ‘Left & Right Virtual Intersections’ Rule Classes, usually it’s best to set it to ‘Left & Right’. This way, the software will look at both directions and will place hangers where the structure is the closest to. For ‘Top & Bottom’ Rule Class, the ‘Searching Rule Name’ options are ‘Top’ or ‘Bottom’. But for ‘Top & Bottom Virtual Intersections’ you can also set the Rule Name to ‘Top & Bottom’. This way, only one configuration is needed to place hangers on MEP elements that are either above or below the structure.

Good examples of Virtual Intersections are columns for the ‘Left & Right Virtual Intersection’ or beams (as Structural Framing) for the ‘Top & Bottom Virtual Intersections’. Virtual Intersections option is also good for creating multi-level hangers.

‘Search In Project’ allows you to select between current project, linked projects or both.

‘Searching Distance (Min, Max)’ is the range to look for intersection with structures in a direction specified in the ‘Searching Rule Name’.

‘Do not Place Details at Same Point’ will stop hangers from being placed if there’s already a hanger placed at the exact point on the MEP element. 

In ‘Additional Filter’ you can create your own filters for structure elements. These filters must be True for hangers to connect to the structure.

MEP Element

Here you can set up filters for MEP elements. Software only places hangers on elements that meet the specified conditions. 

‘Length (Min, Max)’ is a filter for length of the MEP element. One of the use-cases for it is to ignore the short pieces of ducts/pipes/cable trays or conduits by specifying the min value.

‘Host Filter’ allows to filter MEP elements by any parameter. Common examples are size parameters (Diameter, Width, Height) and ‘System Type’ or ‘System Name’.

Spacing

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

There are 4 possible ‘Layout Direction’ options: 

  • Start End – distributes hangers in equal spacing throughout the length of the MEP element.
  • 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 toward the ends.

‘Layout Rule’ settings are dependent on the ‘Layout Direction’. Possible Layout Rules are:

  • Fixed Number & Fixed Spacing – places hangers by ‘Fixed Spacing’ field value but stops when the hanger amount reaches a number specified in the ‘Fixed Number’ field.
  • Fixed Spacing – places hangers by ‘Fixed Spacing’ field value as long as there’s enough room left.
  • Fixed Number – places a set amount of hangers equally spaced on the MEP element. 
  • Maximal Spacing – places the least amount of hangers equally spaced on the MEP element without exceeding the ‘Maximal Spacing’ field value between the hangers.

You can change where the distribution of hangers begins and ends by modifying the ‘Start Offset’ and ‘End Offset’ values.

‘Rotate’ parameters rotate hangers on the MEP elements.

‘Additional Offset’ moves all inserted hangers by a specified amount.

All these settings are applied to every instance of the MEP element separately unless the ‘For Whole Run’ checkbox at the top right of the configurations window is ticked. When ‘For Whole Run’ is on, Accessories and Fittings (tees, crosses, transitions, unions) are ignored as long as the MEP element is going in the same direction.

Rule tabs

Rule tabs (Rule 1, Rule 2, …) allow to insert multiple different hangers or hangers with different settings while using a single configuration. 

You can have as much as 10 different Rules in the configuration, but having many Rules will increase the loading time for insertion. To add or remove Rules, use the ‘+’ and ‘–‘ buttons.

Green color in the Rule name indicates that the Rule is active and the hanger family is selected. Yellow color means that the hanger is selected but the ‘Rule Active’ is set to False, meaning that we rule won’t run. Black color indicates that the rule is inactive and no hanger is selected.

Rules are executed in the order from left to right. That allows you to place one hanger family with the first Rule and have another hanger in a second Rule connect to the hanger inserted in Rule 1, all in one configuration. You can simply drag rules to change their order.