Seeing Something That Is Up Way Too High – Without a Stepstool

We sometimes have content that gets placed and Revit shows us the message that even though you placed the element, you can’t see it.

Yeah. THIS window. You know it.

The typical user will then try to place it seven more times and ignore reading that Warning each time. Exceptional users will often place 20 instances or more before reading it. Yeah, you know who you are.

There could be any number of reasons the element doesn’t show up, right now I want to address a work around we have for items that are typically placed just above the View Range of a plan, but we REALLY want to see on that plan. Tack strips come to mind. You want those placed up around 7′. The top of our View Range is right around there, too. There’s a good chance we aren’t gonna see that Tack Strip by default. And that’s because it is out of the View Range.

So, we cheat a little, and give Revit a little morsel for the View Range to grab onto. In the family we drop a model line that goes “low” enough to definitely go past the Cut Plane in the view. Then, uncheck the VISIBLE parameter for that line. Reload, and like magic the element shows up in the view. The model line is invisible, so you don’t see it, but it’s there, so Revit considers it part of the family and will include it in the View Range where appropriate.

For the few times that we need it, this has been a safe easy way to get these items to show. Of course, there are dozes of other reasons it might not show up. Just don’t keep clicking after you see that Warning box. Please.

Underlay Action – Slice, Slice, Baby

So, I’ve found myself with some lovely time spent working through the joys of Underlays.  We just had some confusing goings ons, and I thought I would try to get to the bottom of it.

Underlays can be very useful for figuring out what is going on above and below.  And on top of that, any Linework tweak you do to an element in an Underlay, will stay on when you turn the Underlay off!  That’s the kind of thing that gets a geek excited!

From a previous event, I decided I should spend more time in the Help docs, to see if that could lead me the right way.  This was the most important thing the Help File had about how they work:

Displays another slice of the model under the current plan view. That slice of the model can be from above or below the current level. The underlay appears dimmed and is visible even in hidden line. The underlay is useful to understand the relation of components on different floors. Normally, you would turn off the underlay before exporting or printing the view. You set an underlay by specifying a level. The slice of the model between that level and the next level up displays. Three of the underlay options (Current Level, Level Above, and Level Below) are relative to the current level. All other choices are absolute. See Halftone/Underlay.

So not much.  Had to crack open Revit and play for a while.

I would like to preface, this is all based on minutes and minutes of vast experimentaiton.  If someone can point me out as wrong, PLEASE DO.  I would love to know this stuff.

First off – Underlays don’t show linked models.  I tried copy/monitor levels, tried messing with Visibility Graphics, no way could I get a linked model elements to show in an Underlay.  It just didn’t exist as far as the Gods of the Underlay were concerned (Hades, Pluto, Osiris).

Next up is a clarification of the Help File.  Both setting the Underlay and the Underlay’s own view range are dependent on levels… but they MUST be levels that have a floor plan or RCP associated with it.  I’ll clarify.

When you go to select what Level you want for the Underlay, only levels with plan views will show in the list.  In the below snapshot, you see the dropdown for Underlay only showing “Level “1 and “Level 2” (and “None”), when clearly the elevation indicates Level 4, Level 5 and Roof.  Level 4, Level 5 and Roof have no plan or RCP associate with them.  If I were to create a plan, then that level would show up in the list.

The Help File also indicates that the “slice” of what the Underlay shows is from the level you select to the level above that level.  The Help File does NOT indicate that the “level above” must have a plan associated with it.

So, in the example above, if “Level 1” is selected as the Underlay, the “slice” will go from Level 1 to Level 2.

If “Level 2” is selected, then the “slice” will go from Level 2 to… infinity… or wherever Revit decides to stop the model.  I didn’t test this.  I simply put a wall 100′ above Level 2 and it did indeed show up when the Underlay was set to “Level 2”.

As soon as a plan or RCP are created for a level above Level 2, then the “slice” will shrink.  If that plan or RCP is deleted, then the “slice” will grow again.

So, I would propse the Help File be tweaked.  First of all, get rid of that line about “Three of the underlay options (Current Level, Level Above, and Level Below) are relative to the current level.”  I don’t even think that’s an option.  Beyond that:

The slice of the model between that level and the next level up, with an associated plan view, displays.

And maybe add a picture of me giving someone a high five while actually drinking Slice.  That would be cool.  Does that drink even exist anymore?  Now I’m thirsty…

Don’t Forget! LOW WALLS! Watch your…feet…

This is a “hiccup” that I forget.  So I’m writing it down here in the hopes that it will force me to remember (hint: it won’t!)

You remember way back when, we talked about how floors don’t exactly follow the View Range rules?  Walls are kind of the same.  Except a lot more confusing.

This is hard to understand, so I’ll point you here and here (I especially like how that last one calls it a “feature”) for some different ways of explaining it.

Here are the criteria for this insanity:

1. You have a wall
2. The top is UNCONSTRAINED and not attached to anything
3. Your View Range cuts through the wall
4. The top of your wall is less than 6′ from the Bottom of the View Range

If your walls meet all these criteria, your wall will NOT show with the CUT style.  It will show PROJECTION.  Yes, even though you are cutting through it.

If you set the top of your wall to constrain to a level, any level, and then offset it, it will then show as CUT.  Or if you drop the bottom of your view range down so the top of the wall is at least 6′ from the bottom of the view range, it will show as CUT.

Seriously, there has to be a secret manual somewhere.  Indiana Jones and I will try to track it down soon.

Plan Region Oddities

We had a hiccup with our Plan Regions today that I thought I would throw out here so others can enjoy our twenty minutes of panic and confusion.

For a little background so we’re all on the same page… let’s say our cut plane is about 4′-6″ on a typical floor plan.  Actually, let’s say it’s precisely 4′-6″.  That gets us through most doors and windows and walls.  Things that we like to slice through (through which we like to slice).

But, alas, this one little roof shed has a louver that’s up around 8′-0″.  It would be absolutley silly to make another plan simply to show this louver.  What is one to do?

Luckily, Revit has a solution for us.  Looking under VIEW you will see the PLAN REGION tool.  This is a pretty nifty thing.  A plan region allows you to define an area on the plan that follows different view range settings.  Which will allow us to move the cut plane around the lovers to 8′-2″.

Clicking PLAN REGION will take you into the ubiquitous sketch mode where you will sketch out the perimeter of your new plan region.  While still in sketch mode, you can click the Plan Region Properties button and in there you’ll see the View Range button.  Click that, and you get the same view range settings that you would see on any view.  Tweak them to what you need, click OK, finish your sketch and voila! that small sketched area now has a different view range.  End background.

The oddity came in when a user had opened a view with a Plan Region and all of the walls in that region were missing!  First reaction, of course, was that someone had deleted the walls.  Who shall we kill?!  After some quick investigation, turns out the walls were there.  So what was up with them not showing through the Plan Region?

To test, all we did was create a new Plan Region with the same view range.  Yup.  It all showed up.  Walls, tags, everything.  But that original Plan Region was mad.

To fix it?  Selected the region and clicked its EDIT button.  Got back into sketch mode.  Made no changes, and simply finished the sketch again.

Poof.  Everything showed back up.  It just needed a kick in the pants, apparently.

We love our Plan Regions.  I just hope they start behaving better.  Panic attacks are not a good thing when you’re one week to go on a project.

Warning – Floor May Be Closer Than It Appears

So, I stumbled across an odd one today.  Apparently, floors don’t like to follow the rules when it comes to view ranges.

Let’s say you have a floor at Level 1, offset 0′-0″.  Your view range bottom is set at the same height.  I always assumed that since the range was touching the floor, that’s why I saw it.

Boy, was I wrong.

It turns out that you have to get your view range at least 4′ above the floor for it not to appear in a view.

What the what?!  It’s like there is an invisible cube that is 4′ tall sitting on top of a floor.

I did a quick Google and found one reference to it on another blog.  That write-up states that it is “confusing” and “poorly documented”.  I used some different words, but not any that I will type here, in case my mom is reading this.  Hi, mom!

Looks like this “feature” made its way through to 2010 also, at least in my beta it did.

In my opinion this is insane and an amazingly poor idea that needs to be removed ASAP.  When someone sets their view range, they expect that view range to actually work (gasp – crazy idea).  Not work for some items, but not work except for an arbitrary distance with other items.  Dumb dumb dumb.

So watch out for your floors.  They may show up where you don’t expect them to.