Exclusive Dimension Choice in Revit

I was dimensioning a recent project in Revit today and I was wishing away again. 

When dimensioning, in the options bar, we have the ability to prioritise our selection using the drop down menu. Our choices are; wall faces, wall centreline, faces of core, centre of core. 

This is only a priority selection though, not an exclusive one. I wish in the options bar next to the drop menu you could check to make that an exclusive selection, that way, no matter where you hover your cursor over the wall, you can only select that choice. 

I find it annoying that having chosen to dimension to 'face of core' that my cursor still picks up wall faces. When you have walls with layers of plasterboard and I am dimensioning setout, the layers of plasterboard are of no concern to me. It is the framing that I am interested in. I just think this would be a nice feature to improve productivity and reduce error. Less zooming & my middle mouse wheel would last longer too! 

A trip to AUGI wish list is in order!  

Browser Sorting, View Templates & Dependent Views.

*Updated 19th September, 2017. 
The following issue has been resolved after testing in Revit 2018.1. 

In Revit 2015, I have a view list sorted by a custom parameter we use for our Project browser sorting. All the views are sorted by there intended sheet series. ie: 100 Series Plans, 200 Series RCP etc etc. 

Some of the plans have dependent views. (We'll come back to this point shortly)

The other day I went through the process of renaming the 'sorting parameter' due to project scope changing. Fairly simple process as most views have view templates so I simply updated the parameter and all the views reconfigured themselves under the correct browser sorting names. ie: '100 Series Plans' changed to '1000 Series GA Plans'

BUT... when i went to the schedule view list which sorts by this parameter, I noticed some views were still using previous sorting names. eg: '100 Series Plans' was still being used by some views, even though the heading did not appear in the Project browser! I realised the culprit views were infact the dependent views! 

The parent view had the correct sorting name displayed as assigned by the view template, but this did not update the dependent views.

Parent View - Correct!                                      Dependent View -  Incorrect! 

This seems to occur because the dependent views were created after a view template was assigned to the parent view. Therefore the dependent view takes the same information. If you create a dependent view first, then assign the view template to the parent view, the dependent view doesn't update the sorting parameter.

This is quirky little thing, but there is a problem because the only way it appears you can fix this is to remove the view template from the dependent view, then manually update the parameter to the correct sorting title information, then reapply the view template. This is the only way I have managed to rectify what my schedule view list is displaying and to truly remove the old sorting names from the project. 

I'll keep you posted if I find a solution! 

Revit: Display Model (Can't believe it's not butter)

I discovered something today that has been starting me in the face this whole time & I never saw it. 

I was reading a post on a forum and noticed mention of the 'Display Model' parameter as a solution to the individuals problem. This is a graphics property that is available for most views. I asked myself, what is that? So I went to investigate. 
I created a 1:10 callout of the model I was working on and added some detail components. I then went to the properties of the view and changed the 'Display Model' property to 'Half tone'! That's when I had my moment. 

"No Way!" I felt like a kid with a new toy! 

I have been mimicking this property behaviour via use of a filter for a while now. This has worked fine, but this property is so much easier! You can turn off the model completely too when you are finished overlaying 2D detail, by selecting 'Do not display' leaving only datum objects, such as levels and grids and my detail items. Fantastic! Detailing just got even better! 

Revit 2015 Update R2

This is just a re-post and links to some of the blogs discussing the latest Revit 2015 R2 Update. 

I downloaded the update last week and so far I am liking some of the improvements I have come across, particularly the search function now available when placing components. The ability to 'load families and close' is also a welcome feature. 

Here is a re-post Autodesk 'In the Fold' on what it is all about.  

Steve Stafford is also posting reguarly on Revit Oped at the moment on these new features. Here is a link to some of the above mentioned features.

Revit Extension Tools

I like my add-ins! They can be hugely productive when you find the right ones. 

I posted earlier in the year about some of my favourites.  

As part of our Autodesk subscription service, we actually have access to some very useful extension tools. Log in to the subscription Centre. Under downloads, you will see 'Product Enhancements'. This will take you to a list of extensions. 

Rather than re-typing it, here is a link to the Cadline Community with a blog outlining available extensions. 

My recommendation is the Revit 2015 extension package which provides tools for bulk uploading of shared parameters into families. I have mentioned E-transmit in the past too if you spend time before issuing models,  purging and deleting views / sheets. 

So take a look at your subscription centre if you haven't already, we pay enough for it!!

Revit Deployments

Preparing and installing another Revit deployment today reminded me just how much easier it is rolling out a Revit version update over an AutoCAD version update.

I always liked to rebuild the CUIx files for AutoCAD. Each new release always had something new and the office I worked for had there own custom toolbars, settings, Autolisp routines & menus. The major issue with AutoCAD was the unknown instability of the CUIx files which made it more difficult to upgrade, sometimes packing it in and not upgrading at all. Yes, I am thinking of you A2009!  

Revit though has no complicated menu system. Majority of the time setting up a Revit.ini file is all you need. Include a custom 'ini' file as part of your deployment plus a few of your favourite add-ins and your good to go. 

If you haven't setup a deployment before, take a look into it, it will be worth the time. To setup a deployment run the installation as per usual but when prompted to install, look to the left of the splash page and you will have an option to create a deployment. Select this and follow the prompts. When choosing your software, click the drop arrow under 'Revit' and scroll down to find 'custom Revit.ini file'. 

Navigate to a shared location where you have saved the file and select this. When Revit deploys onto a computer, it will use the custom Revit.ini file as a start point. Users can then manipulate the Revit options; such as graphic display to their own tastes later. 

For more information on the Revit.ini file visit the following links..

• About the Revit Ini file
• Prepare a Revit.Ini file for deployment
• Revit.Ini Settings - A complete list

If messing with the Revit.ini file sounds a bit daunting, keep it simple. Rather than editing the notepad file directly, install the software on a computer then open Revit and go to options. Now simply configure the settings how you would like them, including typical folder paths, places etc. Once your finished, close Revit and navigate to the following directory:

C:\Users\<YOUR USER NAME>\AppData\Roaming\Autodesk\Revit\Autodesk Revit 2015

Copy the Revit.ini file located here, to a new location and your set to go. 

Choose a silent deployment and select to create a log file in case anything goes wrong, it will help you diagnose the problem. Nominate the custom Revit.Ini file you created & also check to include latest updates. Revit will download these and include them as part of the deployment file. Ensure you nominate to save the deployment file in a shared location that all computers in the office can access. There is also an additional software section where you can nominate any add-ins you may use such a Revit E-transmit. (If you are on subscription, you can download Revit E-transmit from the subscription centre). 

Once the deployment is created and saved in a shared location, simply go to each computer and run the deployment. You have already entered the serial & key when creating the deployment initially (and setup network licencing if any) so you won't be prompted for any of this again. 

Good luck and if you get stuck, there are plenty of resources on the web to assist you. Enquire with your reseller too as they may even be able to talk you through setting up your deployment. 

 

Categories - Structural Columns

Today I came across a problem with an elevation view. A colleague of mine had an in-place family representative of a series of existing walls. (Not how I would recommend normally doing it, but beside the point). They then created a joinery family (aka casework) and placed it within the perimeter of those existing walls. So far so good. An elevation was created to look at the front of the joinery but instead of seeing joinery, we only saw walls.  

(Note: I created a very simple example recreating the problem)

The elevation shown in front of the joinery, surrounded by an in-place family of walls.

The resulting elevation above. No joinery can be seen here.

So I started my usual process of elimination, starting with checking where the elevation line was, view extents, visibility graphics, filters, etc etc. 

I finally noticed when selecting the in-place family (representative of the existing walls), the category assigned wasn't in-fact 'Walls'. It was 'Structural Columns'. Ah huh! So we updated the category to walls and there appeared our joinery in the view! 

The view with the in-place family category set to 'Walls'.

Just another thing to add to our list of things to check when troubleshooting. Worth noting this difference in behaviour between the categories too.