What is the difference between solid
white filled regions and masking regions?
That's the question I asked myself a few days ago when I came across a
solid white filled region on a project. So with a little trial and error
and some forum research I have pulled up the following.
Firstly, filled regions:
Usually used for fill or hatch patterns, be it a brick hatch or a simple diagonal
line hatch. This is not always the case and sometimes we create solid hatches, greys,
black’s and colour if the need arises. (You will notice I didn’t say white! We
will come back to that).
Filled regions also allow us to change the colour of the pattern and we
have the choice between an ‘opaque’ and ‘transparent’ filled region within the
type properties.
When we export our Revit drawings, filled regions are exported as hatch
patterns.
*Masking regions are always opaque, we
cannot make them transparent and you can’t apply a fill pattern to them.
Most importantly, when exporting out of Revit, masking regions don't create solids. If your masking regions use invisible lines, then they won't even export. Any lines that cross the
masking regions will not show, maintaining the graphic appearance of the view. Draw order also comes into play. elements must be sent behind the masking region to be cut.
In short, I would recommend using these particular tools for their
intended purpose to save you hassle later. Masking regions to mask objects
& filled regions for patterns / hatches.
*This post was edited August 2015
