Tag: grouping

How to find Array Groups in the Revit 2013 Project Browser

Luke Johnson

I previously posted about how to duplicate Array Group types and swap them in and out here.

Interestingly, I created a detail Array Group in Revit 2013 today and noticed that it did not immediately appear in the Project Browser.  Further to this, I could not Duplicate or Rename the Array Group Type.  What to do?

The short answer – group the Array Group.  This will force Revit to populate the Project Browser with the Array Group type name.  It also allows you to Duplicate and Rename the Array Group.  All of this then allows you to use the swap-in-swap-out method I linked to above.

Watch the short video here:

Think you know everything about Links and Groups?

Luke Johnson

Aaron Maller is one of the top Revit guys in the world.  In a recent blog post, he provides some handouts for download – this is basically stuff about Links and Groups for the Advanced user – very interesting!

So here they are!
Sample Data Sets
Class Handout

via
Malleristic Revitation: Class Materials- Autodesk TA event- Dallas

Quick re-phasing

Luke Johnson

Sometimes you have a bunch of model objects of different categories and you want to quickly change the Phase Created of all of them at once.  And sometimes, I find that the persistent Properties in Revit doesn’t always reveal ‘Phase Created’ when objects of different categories are selected (this is in Revit 2013 – more investigation required).

In any case, to quickly change the phase of lots of model objects:

  1. Go to a Plan View
  2. Group the objects you want to re-phase
  3. Duplicate the active plan view.  Change the phase of the new view to the ‘target phase’ of the objects (the phase you want to change them to)
  4. Go back to the original Plan View (from step 1)
  5. Ctrl-X or Cut
  6. Go to the new Plan View (from step 3)
  7. Paste Aligned – Same Place
  8. All of the objects have now adopted the Phase Created value from the duplicated Plan View

 

Five Places to Hide Things in your Revit Model

Luke Johnson

Sometimes you want to save some Revit elements for later – like throwing them in the cupboard until you need them.  Here are five ways to do that:

  1. Group, then Link, then Unload the Link (you can copy / paste things from a link instance later)
  2. Add the elements to a secondary Design Option
  3. Put the elements on a Hidden Workset
  4. Put the elements in a Future Phase (after the current job phase).  Or, put them in a phase previous to Existing and then demolish them all in the same phase.  You can also put Views, like Sections, in a Future Phase to keep them in the model but stop them from showing in any plan views.
  5. Group the elements, Pin the Group, Duplicate the Group Type, then delete everything from the new type.  (Technically, you will need to keep at least one thing in the Group – so keep something that won’t print in there.)

Revit Array with adjustable Group Types for Array members

Luke Johnson

This video demonstrates a peculiar workflow, in which Revit allows you to change the Type of an Array member without breaking the array.

This example uses a Polar array based on a copy-to-2nd method. You will notice that the reliability of this method actually depends on how far the array is pushed. In general terms though, this hack may prove useful in some situations.

Tips for Good Revit model maintenance and better performance

Luke Johnson

Nice ‘checklist’ style post over at RevitKing.  Most things just come back to sensible modelling:
Revit.King’s BIM coordinator/ Revit Blog: Optimal performance for Revit!!!

One of the tips:
Create a family component instead of in-place families when possible, especially for repetitive components. Each in-place family has separate type attributes that Revit has to reference.

To implement this on an existing model, you could convert some of the in-place families to Component families using this method.

How to include Area Boundary Line in a Model Group

Luke Johnson

When in Edit Mode for a Model group, the Area Boundary Line tool is grayed out.

However, to work around this limitation, you can:

  • Select Area Boundary lines that exist ‘in the project’ and then trigger the Group command to group them, or
  • Edit an existing Model Group and use the ‘Add’ option to bring Area Boundary lines from the Project into the Group

It is an unusual limitation, but the above workarounds are not too onerous.

Create duplicates in Edit Group mode – workaround

Luke Johnson

Do you get annoyed by the warning:

Can’t create duplicates in Edit Group mode.

If you are editing a group, and want to make a Duplicate of something, simply scroll to the item in the
Project Browser – right-click – Duplicate.

EDIT (added 5 Dec 2011):

In other words, this tip allows you to create a new Family Type in Edit Group mode. You may get annoyed when you aren’t allowed to make new Family Types when you are in Edit Group mode and Revit just keeps telling you:
Can’t create duplicates in Edit Group mode.

Just use the Project Browser instead – scroll down to the family in question, right click on a Type and Duplicate.  Revit will let you do this, even while in Edit Group mode.