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USEFUL TIPS GRAPHICS,

ROTATED VIEWS WITH TEXT, DIMENSIONS AND TAGS

So you’ve created a callout of your plan, placed it on your sheet and rotated it either 90º clockwise or anti-clockwise. The text that was horizontal is now displayed vertically, not too much of a problem, but the text that was vertical is now upside down, disaster!

Different “text” elements will need to be fixed in various ways.

Text

Dimensions – Duplicate your dimension style and under Type Properties modify the Read Convention to suit your view. The convention applies to the view, not how the view has been placed on the sheet, so you will have to take this into account.

Tags – Room Tags

Edit the tag family. Select the label required to be upside down, untick ‘keep readable’, then rotate the label 180º. Depending on how you construct your tags the upside down could either be turned off using a visibility parameter or as a standalone tag.

Tags – Other

I haven’t found a way to rotate the text in all other tag categories besides room tags. Unticking ‘keep readable’ seems to have no affect on the text when rotated.

Dimensions

Duplicate the dimension type and rename it. Then in the type properties, in the ‘Text’ section, modify the read convention to ‘right then up’.

ALIGNING VIEWS

If you want views to be in EXACTLY the same spot on a series of sheets, draw a reference plane in the view and draw a detail line on the title sheet. Select the view, and move it with the move command. Select a point on the reference plane in the legend as the base point and move it to a point on the detail line. Cut this detail line and paste it onto the next sheet, manually place the view and repeat the move process.

It’s possible to draw the original detail line off the reference plane if you’re happy with the location of the view on the first sheet.

CONVERT DETAIL LINEWORK INTO DETAIL COMPONENT

Following on from this post about saving in place families as regular families, I thought I’d add a useful trick to convert your detail line-work into a detail component.

Similar to saving the family, create a group from the lines and regions. You can name the group now or in one of the next steps, however to make sure everything is consistent (I name the group the final family name now). Now find the group in the Groups > Detail section of the project browser, right click on it and select “save group”. This will create a Revit project from your detail items (and there is no way to select family).

Browse to the location where your group project was saved and rename the file extension from .rvt to .rfa (windows will generate an error saying this may make the file unstable, ignore this error). If the file extensions are not visible don’t add .rfa to the end of your file name you will need to make file extensions visible and then change the file extension. The file will be converted in to a Revit family, although still with many of the properties of a project. Instead of cleaning up the family, find the view in which your detail elements have been copied (this should be the view type as the view in the model) and copyclip (ctrl + c) all the elements. Then create a new detail component family and paste (modify > paste > aligned to current view) the elements into this new family. The intersection of the two reference planes named centre will be the insertion point for the detail component, so move the pasted elements into a location that relates to this point.

I will then close family that was renamed from the exported project and then save the newly created family over the top. However you could save the family with a different name if you wanted.

Your new detail component family is now ready to be inserted into your project.

SAVE IN PLACE FAMILIES

I always forget the method for saving families or parts of the project out into separate files.

The simple overview is to group the objects to be exported and then save the group. Depending on whether you are currently editing the project or an In-Place family you will either get a RFT or RFA file.

Below is the extended method for creating families from In-Place families, to create parts of the project simply ignore the steps referring to families.

Edit the family you want to export.
Select all the elements that are to be included in the new family.
Group these elements. (The name used for the group can automatically be used for the name of the family)
While still editing the In-Place family, either find the group in the Groups section of the project browser right click and select Save Group or go to Save As > Library > Group. In the pull down menu select the group you wish to export, type in a File Name and click Save. Note as mentioned above, depending on whether you are editing the project or an In-Place family you will either get a RFT or RFA file, the File Type pull down does not give you this option.

I tested this method for breaking up projects and the Project Base Point remains in the same location. So the exported parts of the project can be linked back to the same location by using the setting Auto – By Shared Coordinates.

GENERAL, GRAPHICS, USEFUL TIPS

GRAPHIC REPRESENTATION

The list below outlines the graphic sequence of the different layers of Revit graphical commands. Lower numbers will override higher numbers, for example, command 1 will override command 2. Its also a good guide for the different options for controlling the graphical output of your drawings.

Linework – Modify > View > Linework – Select a Line Style and pick lines in the view to change to this style.
Override by Element – Modify > View > Override by Element – Override the projected and cut line styles and patterns for the selected element in the current view.
Filters – View > Visibility / Graphics > Filters – Create groups of elements based on Filter Rules. Then control the overrides for projected and cut line styles and patterns of the set by applying the filter to views.
View Depth – Control what shows in the “Beyond” system line type by controlling the View Depth under Properties > View Range > View Depth. You can change the <Beyond> line style under Manage > Line Styles.
Phasing – By controlling the “Phase Filters” and “Graphic Overrides” (found in Mangage > Phases) you can override the graphics of elements in the various phases.
Silhouette Edges – This is Revit’s attempt to predict which lines should be displayed heavier to represent depth. Properties > Graphic Display Options > Edges and then set your silhouette line style.
Visibility / Graphic overrides – Halftone. Control your Halftone Brightness under Manage > Additional Settings > Halftone/Underlay
Visibility / Graphic overrides – Override line and pattern graphics for both surface and cut patterns.
Detail Level – If your detail level is set to course you will be able to change the Fill Pattern and Color of system families line walls, floors and ceilings in their Type Properties dialogue box.
Material – Control the Pattern and Color of elements by their material, depending of if the element is displayed as projected or Cut. Manage > Settings > Materials.
Object Styles (global) – Control the Line Weight, Line Color, Line Pattern, and Material of elements by their Category.

Visual Style sits over all these settings and can, in some ways, slot into any position. Generally the main effect it will have on views is the transparency of all elements when set to Wire-frame state. However as wire-frame is a one way setting, so once you either use one of the above settings or Wire-frame mode to make elements transparent, using the opposite setting will not make the element non transparent.

Many thanks to What Revit Wants for the bones of this post. http://whatrevitwants.blogspot.com.au/2011/03/priority-of-visibility-overrides-in.html

BUGS, GENERAL, USEFUL TIPS

CAN’T OPEN CENTRAL FILE UNTIL YOU HAVE RELOADED LATEST?

For some reason you’re stuck in a loop. You can’t open either your local file or create a new local file until you’ve “Reloaded Latest”, but you can’t Reload Latest unless you open the file.

This tip might not work all the time but then again it might be just what you’re looking for.

Try opening the file but not opening the workset containing the error. To do this go to File > Open > Project select the project you want to open and then click the arrow next to the “Open” button, select “Specify” and then click open. In the “Opening Worksets” dialogue select all the worksets and click “Close”. Revit won’t let you open a project with no worksets open, so you have to pick one which either doesn’t have a lot of content or is least likely to be causing the problem (such as an old or disused workset) and open just that workset. Click “Ok”.

Hopefully your project opens and you are able to “Reload Latest” and “Sync with Central”. If you still get the error, try the process again but open a different workset.

DISAPPEARING SECTIONS

Here are a few reasons why your sections might not be visible, starting with a few basics.

They might be hidden – click on the light-bulb (Reveal Hidden Elements) to check if the element or category is hidden.
A group of sections might be filtered. Go to View > Graphics > Visibility/ Graphics click on the Filters tab and see if a filter is affecting the visibility of some, or all, of your section markers.
The section might not cut through the view range of the view in which you wish the section marker to be visible. Change either the section extents (not the section marker extents) or the view range so that the section marker is visible.
Check the section’s properties for “Hide at Scales Coarser Than”. As the name suggests this will hide the section in all views Coarser than the value specified. If the view you wish to see the section in is coarser than this value then it will not be visible.
The phases don’t match. For example, if the section is cut in the “New Construction” phase and the phase of the plan (or other view in which you wish to see the section marker) is set to “Existing” phase then the section won’t be visible.
Check the section’s properties for “Discipline”. If the discipline set for the section is different than the discipline for the view in which you wish to see the section marker then the section marker won’t be visible.

Hope this help.

Home/Revit/Learning/Useful Tips

USEFUL TIPS GRAPHICS,

ROTATED VIEWS WITH TEXT, DIMENSIONS AND TAGS

So you’ve created a callout of your plan, placed it on your sheet and rotated it either 90º clockwise or anti-clockwise. The text that was horizontal is now displayed vertically, not too much of a problem, but the text that was vertical is now upside down, disaster!

Different “text” elements will need to be fixed in various ways.

Text

Dimensions – Duplicate your dimension style and under Type Properties modify the Read Convention to suit your view. The convention applies to the view, not how the view has been placed on the sheet, so you will have to take this into account.

Tags – Room Tags

Edit the tag family. Select the label required to be upside down, untick ‘keep readable’, then rotate the label 180º. Depending on how you construct your tags the upside down could either be turned off using a visibility parameter or as a standalone tag.

Tags – Other

I haven’t found a way to rotate the text in all other tag categories besides room tags. Unticking ‘keep readable’ seems to have no affect on the text when rotated.

Dimensions

Duplicate the dimension type and rename it. Then in the type properties, in the ‘Text’ section, modify the read convention to ‘right then up’.

ALIGNING VIEWS

It’s possible to draw the original detail line off the reference plane if you’re happy with the location of the view on the first sheet.

CONVERT DETAIL LINEWORK INTO DETAIL COMPONENT

Following on from this post about saving in place families as regular families, I thought I’d add a useful trick to convert your detail line-work into a detail component.

I will then close family that was renamed from the exported project and then save the newly created family over the top. However you could save the family with a different name if you wanted.

Your new detail component family is now ready to be inserted into your project.

SAVE IN PLACE FAMILIES

I always forget the method for saving families or parts of the project out into separate files.

The simple overview is to group the objects to be exported and then save the group. Depending on whether you are currently editing the project or an In-Place family you will either get a RFT or RFA file.

Below is the extended method for creating families from In-Place families, to create parts of the project simply ignore the steps referring to families.

Edit the family you want to export.

Select all the elements that are to be included in the new family.

Group these elements. (The name used for the group can automatically be used for the name of the family)

I tested this method for breaking up projects and the Project Base Point remains in the same location. So the exported parts of the project can be linked back to the same location by using the setting Auto – By Shared Coordinates.

GENERAL, GRAPHICS, USEFUL TIPS

GRAPHIC REPRESENTATION

The list below outlines the graphic sequence of the different layers of Revit graphical commands. Lower numbers will override higher numbers, for example, command 1 will override command 2. Its also a good guide for the different options for controlling the graphical output of your drawings.

Linework – Modify > View > Linework – Select a Line Style and pick lines in the view to change to this style.

Override by Element – Modify > View > Override by Element – Override the projected and cut line styles and patterns for the selected element in the current view.

Filters – View > Visibility / Graphics > Filters – Create groups of elements based on Filter Rules. Then control the overrides for projected and cut line styles and patterns of the set by applying the filter to views.

View Depth – Control what shows in the “Beyond” system line type by controlling the View Depth under Properties > View Range > View Depth. You can change the <Beyond> line style under Manage > Line Styles.

Phasing – By controlling the “Phase Filters” and “Graphic Overrides” (found in Mangage > Phases) you can override the graphics of elements in the various phases.

Silhouette Edges – This is Revit’s attempt to predict which lines should be displayed heavier to represent depth. Properties > Graphic Display Options > Edges and then set your silhouette line style.

Visibility / Graphic overrides – Halftone. Control your Halftone Brightness under Manage > Additional Settings > Halftone/Underlay

Visibility / Graphic overrides – Override line and pattern graphics for both surface and cut patterns.

Detail Level – If your detail level is set to course you will be able to change the Fill Pattern and Color of system families line walls, floors and ceilings in their Type Properties dialogue box.

Material – Control the Pattern and Color of elements by their material, depending of if the element is displayed as projected or Cut. Manage > Settings > Materials.

Object Styles (global) – Control the Line Weight, Line Color, Line Pattern, and Material of elements by their Category.

Many thanks to What Revit Wants for the bones of this post. http://whatrevitwants.blogspot.com.au/2011/03/priority-of-visibility-overrides-in.html

BUGS, GENERAL, USEFUL TIPS

CAN’T OPEN CENTRAL FILE UNTIL YOU HAVE RELOADED LATEST?

For some reason you’re stuck in a loop. You can’t open either your local file or create a new local file until you’ve “Reloaded Latest”, but you can’t Reload Latest unless you open the file.

This tip might not work all the time but then again it might be just what you’re looking for.

Hopefully your project opens and you are able to “Reload Latest” and “Sync with Central”. If you still get the error, try the process again but open a different workset.

DISAPPEARING SECTIONS

Here are a few reasons why your sections might not be visible, starting with a few basics.

They might be hidden – click on the light-bulb (Reveal Hidden Elements) to check if the element or category is hidden.

A group of sections might be filtered. Go to View > Graphics > Visibility/ Graphics click on the Filters tab and see if a filter is affecting the visibility of some, or all, of your section markers.

The section might not cut through the view range of the view in which you wish the section marker to be visible. Change either the section extents (not the section marker extents) or the view range so that the section marker is visible.

Check the section’s properties for “Hide at Scales Coarser Than”. As the name suggests this will hide the section in all views Coarser than the value specified. If the view you wish to see the section in is coarser than this value then it will not be visible.

The phases don’t match. For example, if the section is cut in the “New Construction” phase and the phase of the plan (or other view in which you wish to see the section marker) is set to “Existing” phase then the section won’t be visible.

Check the section’s properties for “Discipline”. If the discipline set for the section is different than the discipline for the view in which you wish to see the section marker then the section marker won’t be visible.

Hope this help.