Differences in Cropping Symbols and Detail Components

Just something to keep in mind when using Symbols and Detail Components.

When you are cropping views there is a subtle difference between Symbols and Detail Components. A Symbol will not be cropped by a Crop Boundary (only by an Annotation Crop,) where as a Detail Component will be cropped.

Cutting 3D CAD Files

When you are using 3D CAD files in your Revit models, whether it is for a topography, an existing building or a piece of furniture, one thing you might notice is that if you place a section marker that cuts the 3D CAD files it won’t show as being cut and even worse it will show the full extent of the CAD model, even if parts of it are behind the section mark.

                

To get the 3D CAD file showing properly in section, you have to import the 3D CAD file in an In-Place family.

Create a new In-Place Component Family selecting the Category most appropriate, and then Import the 3D CAD file. Finish the In-Place Family.

Now the section will show properly. Just remember the cut line work will now take on the style of the category.

This procedure also work by inserting the CAD file into an external component family.

Linked Site Disappearing

With all of our projects utilising shared coordinates, it means that we are linking our sites into the building models. This process can result in a little Revit anomaly in some section views, it doesn’t happen with all views or projects and can occur quite randomly.

In your section view the topography from your linked model disappears for no apparent reason, even though it is visible in the model in all other views.

If this ever occurs in your sectional view, check your ‘Far Clipping’ setting in the View Properties. If the Far Clipping is set to ‘Clip with Line’ it can make the topography in the linked file disappear (sometimes). If the ‘Far Clipping’ in the View Properties is set to ‘Clip without line’ (or ‘No Clip’) then the topography will become visible again.

Spot Elevations on Ramps

When you place spot elevations on your floor plan, if you try and place them on ramps you will notice that this isn't possible using the spot elevation tool.

It is possible to place them on elevations and section but plans it isn't possible......or is it?

A simple work around is to place the spot elevation onto a floor and then move or copy it onto the ramp and magically it will host itself to the ramp levels.

Voids in Complex Modelling

Voids can be a very useful object in complex form modelling. If you need to create a complex structural form you can use the edges of the void as a path to help host sweeps. As the void is negative space it won’t be visible in the final model.

It is a lot easier to create paths on the edges of a void form rather than having to try and create the path as a line. This is evident when you have to distort the path in 3 directions, (It is possible to do it using an adaptive family with points and splines, but is just so much simpler to use a void).

In the example I am using an extruded blend to create my void form.

Once you have the edges looking correct, just host a sweep to the edges using the ‘Pick Path’ and your complex form is finished.

A very effective way of rendering your design model is to assign a balsa wood material (or white card material) to all elements. Instead of having to engage in a time consuming process of saving a design model and reassigning materials, there is a very quick and easy process to gain the desired result.

Dimension Leaders

When you are using the Dimension tool in your model, sometimes the dimension text will be placed where it overlaps with the dimension line or ‘Tick’ mark. It is easy enough to move the dimension text away by selecting the blue dot at the bottom of the dimension text.

The result will leave you with a leader line back to the middle of the dimension line. If you want to remove it from the Dimension string, just look at the Options Bar and untick the ‘Leader’ tick box. This will remove it from the entire dimension string.

Unfortunately, the leader is turned on by default in all dimensions. If you want to turn it off in all the dimensions in your project you can select any dimension string and right-click, this will bring up the option to ‘Select All Instances’ > ‘In Entire Project’. Then you can turn off the leaders to all dimensions of that type.

Exporting to AutoCAD

If you need to export your Revit model to CAD for any reason you need to be careful what scale the Revit view is set to prior to exporting. At different scales you will get varying results in the final CAD file.

For smaller scales the export is without problem, but for some larger scales (above 1:200) the export will start to drop detail in you CAD file. And there doesn’t seem to be any logic towards what goes missing.

The examples below are images of the final AutoCAD (DWG) exports for a simple screen model.

Original Revit Model

Revit Export Scale 1:200

Revit Export Scale 1:500

Revit Export Scale 1:1000

Revit Export Scale 1:2000

So when you are exporting to CAD from Revit, be aware that any exports above 1:200 may not give you the results you were expecting.

Grouping In-Place Masses

If you are working with In-Place Masses be careful when you group them together. The masses will group together fine, it is only when you try to move or copy the In-Place Mass Group that you will start to encounter some problems.

When a group containing In-Place Masses is moved or copied they will not relocate to their new position. Instead they will remain in their original location creating a duplicate copy on the same instance, (or worse….. and start randomly placing masses).

This is clearly evident when you have modeled elements grouped with the masses (eg. Floors), the modeled elements will relocate properly and the masses are left behind.

So when you are working with In-Place Masses, try not to group them together.

Double Click - Middle Scroll Wheel

Here is a quick one......If you Double Click on the scroll wheel on your mouse, it is the same as selecting Zoom to Fit.

Wall Sweep Visibility Control

When you have Wall Sweeps in your model, by default they can be a little problematic to hide in your views without having to resort to ‘Hide in View’ > ‘Element’. (Which is a very undesirable work practice, so don’t even think about it!)

The problem occurs because there is no Wall Sweep Category and Revit, by default doesn’t have a Wall Sweep subcategory under the walls.

Dynamo - Accessing Legends via Core Nodes

This task originated from trying to determine which legends were actually in use on sheets in a Revit project file.

Listing all of the Legends in the model seemed like an easy enough task and while there are a couple of packages that have nodes to collect this information. I always see if it is possible to do this via the core nodes.

This process was more difficult than first thought below is the graph and attached is the Dynamo file. Hopefully you will find it useful.

You may notice that it brings up a few errors, but these can be ignored and it doesn't list Keynote Legends, as there are considered schedules by Revit.

Legends in Dynamo

Copy Box Toggle

When you are using a modification tool that has the ‘Copy’ box as an option, like Offset, Mirror or Rotate.

If you hold the ‘CTRL’ key down while executing the command it will toggle the ‘Copy’ tick box (On or Off depending on the modification tool).

This will save you having to move your mouse up there every time.

Divided Surfaces Alignment

In the conceptual modelling environment, if you have a trapezoidal face that isn’t a perfect square or rectangle, when you divide this flat surface the resulting grid will be applied at an assumed rotation, aligning itself to the angled edge. 9 times out of 10 this is not the result you were looking for.

It would be really nice if the grid was distorted so that it divided all of the edges equally resulting in a more uniform grid arrangement. Just like the image below.

How do we get to this result?

Well as it happens the conceptual environment seems to favour distorted, organic forms. So just pick the point at the top corner of the face and distort it ever so slightly.

In this instance I am adding .0001 to the dimension. Technically it isn’t perfectly flat anymore but dimensioning will round it to the correct value, and nobody will ever know. It is your little secret.

Dynamo Class At Autodesk University

Sorry for the blatant spamming of the group, but I have a submission in for Autodesk University later this year and it is a voting system to get the talks accepted. If you wouldn’t mind could you upvote my session? Link is below……

Session Title: Dynamo Protocols for Success - Standardizing Dynamo Deployment

Just search using the Session Title in the Link below:

http://au.autodesk.com/speaker-resource-center/call-for-proposals/voting

Either way, I will post up the presentation onto the blog, so that you can all benefit.

Thanks for your support.

Hide Unreferenced Views

When you are preparing your views for documentation one thing that is inevitable is that you have plenty of unreferenced views visible. Visually they tend to clutter your views.

Purging Famalies

When you are creating Families, don’t forget that they can be purged too. This will help when they are loaded into your project.

This is especially relevant if you have imported any CAD files into the Family.

Clean models mean faster models…..

Family Renaming rather than Duplicating

From early Revit teachings, we are always told to Duplicate families to create new types and alter families, and rightly so, it can be dangerous to alter existing types. This is a great first principle to build upon in your Revit training.

What happens if you want to Rename and Alter rather than Duplicating?

Firstly you have to be certain you know how many instances of the Family type you will be changing. A quick way of determining how many instances you will be altering is to use you filter tool.

Simply select and right click an instance of the Family and the select the ‘Select All Instances’ then ‘In Entire Project’. This will highlight all instances in the project.

Then in the bottom right hand corner of your screen you will see the filter icon, this will display how many instances there are of the Family Type. If there is more than 1, be careful you may be changing more than you think……

You can also see this information in the Project Dialogue box.......

Another Funny Error Message

Here is another one of those obscure error messages you get from time to time…….although this one does have a meaning…..

Isn’t it obvious!!!! (queue sarcasm)

If you get this message, check to see if you are running low on server space. Might be time you cleaned up the server a little and archive a few projects….

Notes In Family

If you have created a Family and would like to inform users of any special conditions that they should be aware of when using or altering the Family. Then you could think about adding some notes in the family.

All you have to do is create a Text Parameter in the Family.

It is very important that you select the correct ‘Group parameter under’ this will ensure the parameter is grouped with the parameters that it is trying to highlight.

To insert your information text, just type it in the formula column, ensuring that you use “quotation marks” or it will give you an error.

Creating New Floor Plans

If you would like to create a new plan view of your model, you could duplicate an existing plan view, but this will bring with it all of its views properties. This could be acceptable for your requirements, but I always like to start fresh and then apply the view parameters I require.

The only trick is that when I go to the View ribbon, select the Plan Views tool, and then the Floor Plan tool, the resulting Dialogue box, usually does not show any of the levels, because they are already in use.

To show all of the available levels, just un-check the ‘Do not duplicate existing views’. This will bring up the available list of Levels. The select the Level and create the new view.

Nested 'If' Statement Generator

I have been using this excel formula generator for a while now and it has come in very handy from time to time. It originated from Chris Price (Cadway and Xrev) and was distributed at an RTC (Revit Technology Conference) a while ago.

When you are using formulas in you families and you have to produce an ‘if’ statement with many nested conditions then having to type all the information can take a while. This simple excel document can shortcut all of the manual input.

All you have to do is cut and paste the resulting formula (in Column E), into your formula parameter in your family…..

You can alter or build on the information in the excel table as required.

Nested If Generator

Views Not on Sheets

Whether you are cleaning up your Revit Project file or trying to find a view that you have just created. One of the Project Browsers Organisation settings can really help.

If you select the ‘Views (all)’ at the top of the Browser tree, and in the Properties ‘Type Selector’ select the option ‘not on sheets’.

This will change the Project Browser to only show the views that have not been placed on sheets yet. (Once you have finished, ensure that you change it back to show all views.)

(The first thing you should ensure is that you have this browser setting in your Project Browser! If not you will have to set one up!)

You can use this method to quickly access other Project Browser Options.