Selection Filter

When you are selecting elements in your Revit file it is can be difficult to select all of the elements you require. An easy way to refine your selection is to use the Filter (not to be confused with a view filter).

This will allow you to highlight multiple elements and then refine the selection by using the filter to identify the categories you would like to have selected.

In the example below I just want to select the doors, so I am selecting the entire model first and then filtering my selection to just have the doors selected.

Equal Dimension Anchor Point

When you have multiple elements in your Revit project or family, you can equally space the objects using a dimension string and toggling the EQ symbol on……very handy but nothing new here!!!

If you select one of the elements you might notice an anchor symbol, this indicates the object that will remain stationary if the spacing adjusts. It sort of works like pinning an element but without the permanency of a pin. You can adjust the element that is anchored by simply selecting the anchor dragging the anchor to a different element.

Walls - Toilet Partitions

When you are modelling Toilet Partitions, because they fall under a standard wall category, they show up like a big thick line in a floor plan because they are so slim. It would be much nicer to see them as 2 thin lines…..

This is where your View Filters come in handy.

Create a view filter that looks for any wall that contains the word ‘Toilet’, then we can apply it to the view template for plans and reduce the cut line weight for these walls and voila, thin lines for our toilet partitions.

It still may read as one line bit it is much thinner at the larger scales.

This process can be applied to wall cladding or linings that are separate walls in your model. A good naming convention is the key to ensure your filters work.

Halftone Control

Revit allows you to ‘halftone’ elements in the visibility graphics and appearance settings, which is a very handy feature. The only problem is that generally it is set too light in your view. You have the ability to adjust the intensity of your halftone/underlay.

There is a really nice slider bar that will allow you to fine tune your ‘halftone’.

Floors and Sloping Walls

When you have sloping walls in your model, it can be a little difficult to add floors and have their boundary snap to the sloping wall. You just aren’t able to pick the edge of the sloping wall where the floor intersects.

You could go down the path of setting up levels, splitting walls, creating new elements all to try and get this edge to snap to, this will take a long time and often the result isn’t 100% accurate. But, there is an easy way.

In this example the new floor is set half way up the sloping wall and in the floor sketch creation I was unable to pick the intersecting edge of the floor and the wall. The resulting floor is not ideal.

To get the floor to snap to the edge of the sloping wall, just draw the floor a little bigger than you need. (So that it sticks out from the sloping wall.

Then go to the Modify Ribbon, and pick the Join tool, and join the floor and the sloping wall.

Now you have an edge line where the floor and the sloping wall meet. (There is an edge on the inside too!)

All you have to do now is select the floor, Select the ‘Edit Boundary’ tool.

And using the ‘Pick Lines’ Draw tool. Select the internal edge for the floor. It will put a new line on the edge.

Clean up the floor sketch using the trim, and delete tools, and finish the sketch. You now have a floor that aligns with your sloping wall.

Rotating in 3D and the center of the Universe

Most Revit users should be familiar with the ability in Revit to rotate around you model in 3D, by holding down the ‘Shift’ key while depressing the  scroll wheel (center button) on your mouse. Although this sometimes can lead you to rotating the model, panning, rotating, panning, and so on…..

A really handy tip is to select an object in you model prior to rotating and then this becomes your centroid point for your rotation.

Filter Hierarchy

When you are applying filters to views one thing to keep in mind is that there is a filter hierarchy. Filters that are higher up on the list will take priority over the ones lower down. So if you have filters being applied to the same elements ensure that you have the filters in the correct order.

You can reorder you filters by selecting them and moving them up and down.

Below is the result of the simple wall filters applied to the Generic Walls.

Grids Propagate Extents

Continuing with the grid theme…….here is a potential big time saver…

When you have your grids set up the way you would typically like them to be shown in your views. There is a quick and easy way of applying the same layout to multiple views. This process is called Propagate Extents.

If you select the grids (either individually or you can select multiple) you will notice that there is a Propagate Extents tool in the ribbon above. 

If you select the Propagates Extents tool it will come up with a Propagate datum extents dialogue box that allows you to select the views you would like the Grid layout applied. Select views and hit ok and just like magic the Grid layout is applied to the views.

This process is especially handy when you have converted your grids to 2D, as it will save you going to all the different views and changing the grids to 2D and manually adjusting their extents.

Grids 2D/3D

I get asked quite a lot about “what is that little ‘3D’ by my grid bubble mean?

If you click a grid line you will see the tiny ‘3D’ pop up by the grid bubble, is you select it you can toggle between 3D and 2D. The terminology is a little unclear in true Revit sense and is a little misleading, it has nothing to do with traditional 2D and 3D views.

Essentially the ‘3D’ means that the grid bubble position is shared throughout the project and if you move it, it will move in other views that the grid bubble is marked ‘3D’.

When you click it and toggle to ‘2D’ it means that it is view specific. So, if you move the grid now it won’t affect any other views. You will see a large circle grip which indicates the ‘3D’ position, dragging the head back to this position will reset it back to ‘3D’.

So in conclusion, if you need to adjust the Grid bubble position, just be careful, if you move it with the 3D on it will adjust more than the view you are in!!!

Places Shortcuts

A quick and easy way to create Shortcuts to you Revit Open Dialog Box is to add Shortcuts to the Places area.

This can be done in a few ways.

• Firstly, if you hold the left mouse button down on the directory you can drag it into the Places area. 

The only problem with this method is that you cannot rename the added directory, which can be confusing if you have 3 copies of the same Directory from different projects….. 

• You can also go to the directory you would like to add and then ‘right click’ in the Places area, and ‘Add Current Folder’. 
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This will give you the same result as the first solution, no renaming!

• The more preferred method that will give you greater control is to ‘right click’ in the Places area, and ‘Edit Places…’ this will take you to the Edit Places dialogue box. Where you can type and manually name a directory then you will have to manually select the directory path.  

This method is a little more time consuming, but it will give you a better result.

Constraining Dimensions

Dimensions are a very powerful way in Revit to control your model. But did you know that they can have control over your model even if they have been deleted.

In this example we have a section of Curtain Wall where I want the Door to be locked at 1000mm and then the glazing to be split up equally for the rest of the length. I am just going to create 2 strings of dimensions as shown. (Note, the 1000mm dimension is locked to keep it constant, do not lock the EQ dimensions)

These dimensions will now control the model. I can delete the dimensions and you will get this warning message. Which is telling me that the dimensions although deleted will still control the model. Hit OK.

This means that I can stretch the Curtain Wall and the divisions will alter as previously locked, without adjusting the door width. 

This process works with any Revit Elements, not just a Curtain Wall layout.