This tip shows how to control display behavior if linked files overlap some objects in Revit. In some cases you might have met problems with correct display of linked objects located above other objects. You need to control display behavior of overlapping objects. If you know AutoCAD, you may remember command like DRAWORDER to solve the problem. How shall we do it in Revit. The answer is easy, just read this tip, please.

Example: You linked DWG with floor plan and created walls overlapping positions of doors and windows.

Tutorial:

1.    Link CAD file (eg. DWG file) via tab Insert – Link CAD

2.    Create walls (tab Home – Wall) using some methods (individual sketch or picking lines).

Situation: At this moment walls are overlapping sketch in imported symbol of CAD file and you don’t see positions of opening, windows, doors for insert objects in Revit model.

Workaround of control draworder in Revit:

3.    Select imported symbol and display palette Properties.

4.    Set Base Offset to value among Cut Plane – Top in View Range of Floor Plan.

5.    Now, you can see the difference:

Notice: Remember the value for Base Offset imported symbol must be among values for Cut Plane and Top in View Range for Floor Plan. To setup View Range parameter go to Properties palette if nothing in view is selected and click Edit.

In dialog View Range you can set the range of view.

Hope the tip helps you.

You can create one detailed view, and refer other section to the first view.

To do this, after you activate section tool, activate reference other view in option bar and choose view you want to use as reference.

This method works for sections, callout, elevation views, etc.

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Up and Ready covers many aspects in software installation, licensing, deployment, and related troubleshooting tips.

Look at some of these articles on the blog:

1. Create AutoCAD 2012 deployment using profile.
2. Illegal server host name for network licensing.
3. General error codes in Autodesk products installation.
4. And also something quite basic like how getting license online.

In manufacturing industry, we have standard parts library. Usually they are already available in the software installation. But for BIM, there’s no standard furniture or plumbing fixtures. If there is, the models change very quickly.

Do you know that you can get those AutoCAD blocks and Revit families from Autodesk Seek? There are multiple file format available. You can get the RFA, RVT (Revit family), DWG (AutoCAD Block), SKP (SketchUp) and even PDF or TXT for specification.

There are many manufacturers submit their model, so you can choose the right model that actually available at the market.

These are some products by Haworth Inc.

Even if you don’t need the exact model, you can find very nice models here. Unless you want to create your own Revit families from scratch.

Autodesk Seek in AutoCAD and Revit

To download the models, all you need to do is go to seek.autodesk.com.

You can also do searches from within the application. There is an Autodesk Seek panel in insert tab.

After you type the keyword and press [enter], it will open a browser and show you the search result. There is no difference by directly typing the address in your browser. The only difference is it filter the file format to your applications. If you search from within AutoCAD, it will show you all AutoCAD supported files.

Have you tried to download a model from Autodesk Seek? What do you think?

You may have other libraries resources that you use before. I use Revit City to look for Revit families. CAD Forum and CAD Block Exchange Network for AutoCAD blocks. Do you have your favorite resources that you want to share here?

In this case, I want to report the actual door width. And the total opening width. There are several workaround to do this, in the family level or simply add custom field in the schedule.

I have posted a tutorial about custom field before, for similar problem with unit cost. Read the Revit Schedule custom field here.

Assumption

This post will use the later one. It may not be suitable in all condition, but it is the easiest. There are some assumption we make here:

1. We assume that single door has maximum width of 3’. More than that, we will assume it will be double door.
2. The door width are equal.

Renaming header

As I mentioned before, the width reported by Revit currently is total width. So I will rename the header. Open your schedule view, and click edit right next to formatting property.

In schedule properties, formatting tab, find width field. If you can’t find it, you have to add it in fields tab first. Rename the heading to total width.

Add Custom Field

Now go to Fields tab. Click calculated value.

In opened dialog box, input these following data:

1. Name: door width.
2. Field Type: formula.
3. Discipline: common.
4. Data Type: Length.
5. Formula: if(not(Width > 3′), Width, Width / 2)
   *field name is case sensitive!

In formula, we use conditional if. We tell Revit to use Width if the door width is less than 3’. Remember that we assume if the width is 3’ or less, then it is a single door. If the condition is not met (more than 3’), we tell Revit to use Width/2.

Add Description Field

The custom field should work. But I want to add more description or comment to tell people who read the schedule what kind of door they are.

Like what we did previously, I add one more custom field:

1. Name: door description.
2. Field Type: formula.
3. Discipline: common.
4. Data Type: Text.
5. Formula: if(not(Width > 3′), “Single”, “Pair”)

Now I have my schedule like this:

Now I know each door width, total width, and show description of the door using IF conditional.

Conditional IF can be very useful. I was trying to use family type for conditional. If the door name contains “single” then I will use it in my conditional statement. But I can’t find how to do it, or use wildcard in formula. If you know how to do it, please share it here.

I will try to write how solve this problem by editing the family and report it in door schedule.

Are you using custom fields in your schedule? What data is using custom fields the most?

Now the question you probably want to ask: can we change the text appearance or change the circle symbol? As far as I know, no. It’s not external family, so you can’t edit it in family editor. And there is no text parameter when we access the edit type option.

Thank you to Fernando Oliveira who posted a comment to correct my mistake. We can change the appearance, because it is defined by rfa family.

If you browse to library> annotation folder, you will see several Revit view title families.

It means you can modify the geometry and text to control the view title appearance.

Try to load another view title family to your project. Now open your sheet, select the viewport.

Click edit type to open type properties dialog box. Now you can see the view title family on title drop down list.

I’m sorry if the previous post confuse you. And thank you again to Fernando for correcting me!

Select the view title or you can also try to select the viewport. Now see at the properties palette. Click edit type.

You will see the parameters that control the view title appearance. First, you might want to check show title parameter. You can choose yes to always show the view title, no to always hide it, or when multiple viewport. The last one will show the view title only when there are more than one viewport in your sheet. This pretty much how I like it.

Below show title option, you can also choose not to show the extension line.

Now the question you probably want to ask: can we change the text appearance or change the circle symbol? As far as I know, no. It’s not external family, so you can’t edit it in family editor. And there is no text parameter when we access the edit type option. In fact yes. Thank you to Fernando who correct this. I posted how you can do it on this post.

Next question: how can we enable this option to all Revit project we created later? You can create a new project, change the setting, and save it as a template. Next time you create a new project, use it as your template.

What if you only want to have one Revit viewport without title, and let other viewports show the title? Easy. Create a duplicate of the viewport type (by default the type name is viewport 1), give it a name that shows the behavior, and change the new type properties.

Now you can use ‘no title’ type for only certain viewport.

More Viewport Tips

We will see detail number (number inside the bubble, on the left side of view title) automatically added. The number is taken from the first view you placed to the sheet and is sequentially added when we add more views. You can override the value and change it by changing the value in properties palette.

The view title is taken from view name in your project browser. You can override the value without changing the view name by changing the title on sheet parameter.

When you need to apply the same setting on next project, then you do it again. You may also need to do it within a project for multi story building. 1st floor plan, 1st floor door schedule, 1st floor this, 1st floor that… and repeat it for 2nd, 3rd, and so on. That would waste a lot of time.

Revit has the capability to save those common settings to a view template. If you save it in your project template, then you can use it for your next project. So you can apply them quickly, in just a few clicks.

You can find Revit this tool on your ribbon> view tab. Alternatively, you can right click a view name on our project browser, and choose from the contextual menu.

Let us try ‘apply template to current view’. In this dialog, you can find some default settings. If you are currently on 1st floor, try the site plan and click OK.

You can see on your screen now is showing site plan. You can see the contour (if your model has any), you can see the roof –not floor plan anymore-, and other changes.

Try to use the others and see how it works. You can also change the settings from the dialog. But I prefer to change the settings first until I’m sure to get what I want, then create the template. This will give a chance to review and see if it sets as I expected.

Now you know how to create a standard Revit view quickly right?

Some Notes

The default templates available may be different if you use imperial units. And if you use no template, you will see no view template available. You can create a new project without using template by choosing none when creating new project.

Now, can you imagine what types of templates you would create? If you already use it, can you share what are they?