The Revit Clinic

Revit 2016 R2 - Delete Multiple Object Style Subcategories

This enhancement falls under small but powerful (and frequently requested from customers).

Previously multiple object style subcategories could be selected, but not deleted.  You still had to delete them one by one (which could be problematic if you had hundreds or thousands you wanted to cleanup).

With the release of Revit 2016 R2 it is now possible to both select multiple object style subcategories and delete them:

It is important to keep in mind the underlying logic has not changed (for example you still can’t delete hard-coded object style subcategories).  If you select some subcategories you can delete and some you cannot - the option to delete will still be unavailable.  Revit will still warn on attempted deletion - now giving a total count for multiple subcategories.

But for user or family created object styles, or for all of those imported object subcategories you want to quickly cleanup - this could save some serious clicks.  This functionality is available in both the project and family environment.

Revit 2015 - Revisions

Revit 2015 introduces some new revision tool functionality.  I’ve outlined the 3 biggest changes from 2014, along with some additional information: 

Draw Tools

Instead of a generic cloud tool that required a lot of clicks, the standard draw tools are now available.  Rectangle is set as the default for revision cloud sketches:

Delete Revisions

Revisions can now be deleted, which will remove the revision from the project and all associated clouds \ tags.  You cannot delete an issued revision:

Arc Length

On a project-wide basis you can control the maximum cloud segment size (the “double bubble”).  For example, if Arc Length is set to 2”, and you are drawing a revision cloud on a sheet directly, after the segment passes 2” a second segment would begin:

Some quick additional tidbits to keep in mind:

Sheet Scaling

With Revit 2015 revision clouds are treated similar to annotation and scale according to the view scale.  For example, if you were to draw the clouds directly on a sheet the exact arc length value would utilized.

Arc Length

Revit has always used a special “double bubble” cloud segment.  The Arc Length value refers to the maximum allowed sheet space size per double arc segment (see above Arc Length image).  

Upgrade Arc Length

By default the Arc Length is set to 3/4” for new 2015 projects.  If your previous-release project contains revision clouds, when you upgrade to Revit 2015 the Arc Length is set to 3 1/2”.  For most cases this will prevent revision cloud geometry changes on upgrade.  Then, on a project basis, you can set it to the desired size.

Small Segments

You can always create segments smaller than the specified Arc Length.

eTransmit for Autodesk Revit 2015

Quick update on eTransmit 2015; we were able to incorporate some requested features into this release!

First, you can find the official Help documentation here:

eTransmit for Autodesk Revit 2015

New features for 2015 are:

• Add additional files (any file you wish to also include in the transmitted folder)
• Disable worksets
• Include or remove sheets
• Include only views on sheets
• Customize view types to include \ exclude

If there are other features that would be useful to you, please leave a request in the comment section!

Revit 2014 Schedules – Conditional Formatting 2 Colors in Same Column

The following approach works well for columns where you want to use 2 colors, and there are 2 distinct options in the column (such as Yes \ No or Existing \ New).

Set the first color by applying shading to the entire column:

(Use the ‘Reset’ tool to remove the shading from the column header if desired).

Then you can assign the conditional formatting to the same column.  Conditional formatting always overstrikes cell formatting, so with this approach you can use a combination of 2 colors:

Don’t forget to check ‘Show conditional format on sheets’ if you wish to display \ print the colors.  This feature was also added for Revit 2014.

Double-click Options & Selection Enhancements for Revit 2014

Timely post by Steve Stafford over at Revit OpEd on Double-Clicking Tags!  Here are some additional tidbits:

Revit 2014 expanded on some of the double-click functionality introduced in Revit 2013.  By default you can customize these settings under Options > User Interface > Double-click Options:

Another change was made to editing parameters in tags.  In Revit 2013 to edit a parameter in a tag you had to select the tag then single-click over the parameter.  If you double-clicked on the tag or parameter it would open the tag family for edit:

Based on user feedback in Revit 2014 this functionality was modified.  You can still select the tag and single-click to edit the parameter value.  But now you can also double-click on the parameter value to edit it.  If your mouse cursor is near a tag parameter double-click to edit tag parameters take priority over double-click to edit the family.  Even if you have double-click settings for Family set to ‘Do Nothing’ double-click to edit parameters still functions:

These double-click settings can be set in the Revit.ini using the following lines; look for [UserInterface]:

[UserInterface]
DoubleClickFamily=EditType \ EditFamily \ NoAction
DoubleClickSketchedElement=EnterEditMode \ EditType \ NoAction
DoubleClickViewOnSheet=ActivateView \ NoAction
DoubleClickAssembly=EnterEditMode \ EditType \ NoAction
DoubleClickGroup=EnterEditMode \ EditType \ NoAction
DoubleClickComponentStairs=EnterEditMode \ NoAction

(All available options per category are included after = include only 1 setting)

Speaking of the Revit.ini, you can also preset the new 2014 selection enhancements there as well; adjust or add the following lines to the Revit.ini.  Look for [Selection]

[Selection]
AllowFaceSelection=1
AllowUnderlaySelection=1
AllowLinkSelection=1
AllowPinnedSelection=1
AllowPressAndDrag=1

0 = Disabled
1 = Enabled

Multi-Segment Grid Bubble Removed by Crop Region

Here’s a quick tip should you run into the following scenario:

You have a custom shape multi-segment grid visible in your view.  You also have the crop region enabled for the view.  You notice that one or more of the mutli-segment grids are not displaying the end symbol (bubble).

Initially the crop region looks like this and all the bubbles are visible:

You adjust the crop region, and the top symbols no longer display:

This issue is specific to multi-segment grids, where there is only 1 sub-segment visible within the crop region (and that 1 sub-segment is cut by the crop).

The workaround is simple:

• Edit the grid sketch
• Use the Modify > Split Element tool
• Click somewhere within the crop (to create a second sketch segment)
• Finish the sketch.  The multi-segment grid line should display the end symbol now, since there is no longer only 1 sub-segment visible & intersected by the crop region:

Revit 2014 Schedule Footer Alignment

The behavior of Revit 2014 schedules containing a column footer has been updated to match Revit 2013 (or earlier behavior).  If you upgraded a project to Revit 2014 you may have noticed the schedule footer justification always set to column left:

After applying Revit 2014 Update Release 1 and opening the same project, the footer alignment should follow the column horizontal alignment:

Revit 2014 allows you to format columns using either the Schedule Properties > Formatting > Alignment setting, or by selecting the column index in the schedule view and using the ribbon Appearance > Align Horizontal tool:

Don’t forget you can first align the column by selecting the column index > Align Horizontal, and then override the column header alignment (by clicking inside the header cell and using the same tool) should you need both the header and column to vary.

Revisions & Keynotes & Worksets & Revit 2014

I want to update and elaborate on our previous post:

When Adding a Keynote Tag the User Borrows a Sheet Workset

For Revit 2013 or earlier there are 2 common scenarios where sheet view worksets can be borrowed working with keynotes or revisions.  The first was mentioned in the original post:

1. There is a sheet in the project A101.
2. Several project views have been placed on this sheet.
3. UserA is in one of the views that appear on sheet A101.  UserA has not opened or edited sheet A101 directly.
4. In this view UserA adds a keynote.
5. Because this view appears on sheet A101, Revit needs to borrow the view workset for sheet A101 to update keynote data.  There could also be a keynote legend on this sheet for example.
6. If UserB attempts to add a keynote to one of these views before UserA syncs with central & relinquishes they would receive the expected “Can’t edit the element until UserA…” message.

The second is applicable only for Revit 2012 \ 2013, where tagging linked model geometry with keynotes is possible:

1. There is a host model containing a Revit link.
2. Keynotes are added (in the host) attached to link geometry.
3. At some point the link geometry changes (such as deleting a wall) causing the keynote tag to become orphaned.
4. When a keynote tag is orphaned, it is removed from keynote legends when filtering by sheet.
5. The next user to create a new local file, or reload the link will load those changes (which orphans the keynote tag).  This in turn borrows every sheet view workset that tag previously appeared in.

For Revit 2013 or earlier the original post provides some additional information around this behavior.

For Revit 2014 keynote and revision functionality has been improved.  Sheet view worksets are no longer borrowed during the same process, which should give larger project teams additional flexibility (especially during documentation-heavy project phases).

Model Elements on View Worksets

Revit has 4 main categories for worksets:

User-Created
Families
Project Standards
Views

The only category directly accessible to users (to change the workset assignment) is User-Created.

In Revit 2013 or earlier you may occasionally notice a model element (such as a wall, door, family, etc.) on a View workset.  View worksets are not user selectable and are instead managed by Revit internally.  So how did this happen?  This could occur under the following scenario: 

1. The user selects and enters an edit mode for an element on a view workset.  Some examples include plan regions, detail groups, or filled regions
2. Instead of using ‘Finish Edit Mode’ or ‘Cancel Edit Mode’ the user instead clicks Undo to exit edit mode
3. Now back in the project, the user starts adding model elements, such as walls.  The walls are placed on the current View workset instead of the active User-Created workset (until the user opens the workset dialog or changes the active workset):

This behavior was improved in Revit 2014.  Using Undo to exit edit mode will correctly reset the active workset.

For earlier releases you can easily isolate elements that may be on an incorrect View workset and assign them to a specific User-Created workset.

First to isolate model elements on view worksets:

1. Create a new 3D View and turn on all categories in Visibility / Graphic Overrides
2. Set the view ‘Discipline’ to ‘Coordination’
3. In Visibility/Graphic Overrides > 'Worksets' tab, set every workset ‘Visibility Setting’ to ‘Hide’ > OK to close the dialog
4. Any element that is visible should be on view workset.  This makes it easy to identify inconsistencies in workset assignment

To move the elements to the desired User-Created workset:

1. Set the Active Workset to the workset you wish the model element onto
2. Cut to Clipboard
3. Paste Aligned to Same Place.  The model element should now be on the active workset.  If it worked correctly you should not see the element again until you adjust the Visibility / Graphic Overrides > Worksets tab, and set ‘Visibility Setting’ back to not use ‘Hide’

Revit 2014 Schedules Tips

I’ve included a few tips using some of the new schedules features from Revit 2014:

Formatting in your Project Template

Formatting for the schedule title \ header \ body section can be added in your Revit template file even if the schedule is not yet populated.  For example, if you wish to add shading to columns and headers; first select the column index (which highlights the entire column) and apply formatting:

Then you can select the headers or grouped headers and apply formatting:

You won’t technically see any of the column formatting until the schedule is populated with elements (since the columns don’t exist yet), but it’s a nice method to set this up ahead of time.  Start adding some walls in the project later and the schedule uses the formatting you initially set:

“Generic Table”

Want to create a simple “generic table” where you can insert text, parameters, shading, images, etc.?  Well you could use the Revit 2014 schedules title section…

First, create a new schedule and either choose a category you do not have in your project, or alternatively filter the schedule so nothing displays in the body section.

Then under the Schedule Properties > ‘Appearance’ tab, un-check ‘Show Headers’.  Now you unmerge the default title row and add additional rows, text, parameters, images, shading, etc.  And you still get the specific control to resize the column and row dimensions.

Two tips; First use the ‘Clear Cell’ tool to remove the default schedule view name.  You can then use that cell to enter any data you wish.  Second, set up your cell sizes before adding new rows.  The new rows will use the previous row for cell number, size and formatting:

Disclaimer: Keep in mind this isn’t perfect, but should be considered a creative use of the schedules title section.  No schedules were hurt (yet) during this process.

Generic Model Schedule – Volume

First of all Revit 2014 adds Generic Models as a scheduleable category.  While you could schedule generic model elements in Revit 2013 using a Multi-Category Schedule, you did not get the ‘Volume’ parameter (and you needed to creatively filter the schedule).  In Revit 2014 you can both create a generic model schedule and schedule the volume:

Last tip here; don’t forget to double-click on the schedule sheet instance to open the schedule view for editing!