Tag Archives: Tips

Section or Details in Legends

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I run into this question usually on a weekly basis so I thought it would be a good post.

When creating a legend, say a door frame legend, and there needs to be a reference a detail in that legend Revit wont allow it.  The section and callout commands are greyed out.  Don’t use a dummy bubble (never ever use a dummy bubble) instead go to another live view of the model (i.e. section, plan, elevation), choose the correct command section or callout, and do a reference view.

Copy that view reference to the clipboard, switch to the legend view and paste from the clipboard.

Bold Text

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This question came up in my office yesterday so I thought I would share the answer.  If you want bold text, there are two ways to get it.  Of course you can always choose a bold font, such as Arial Bold, but here are the other two options:  The first option is to make a text type that has “bold” checked in the type properties.

 

Alternately, once a particular portion of (or all) text within a text box is highlighted, the bold button appears on the Contextual Tab.

One should note, however, that the bold button will remain grayed out until text is highlighted.  So simply selecting a text box will not make this option available.

The first method should be utilized if all text in a particular text box is to be bold, and the second method should be used for large note blocks where only a portion of the text needs to be bolded.

Move with disjoin

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I found another nice little feature (some might call a bug) about using the Move command while having the disjoin checkbox on.  The point of this option is to allow a user to move an element, say wall or beam, that is joined on either end and break that connection during the move process.

What might not be totally apparent is this will also disjoin it from everthing, if you had dimensioned to that wall the dimensions are gone etc.  If you move a level everything associated with the levels gets deleted (views, walls, columns etc.).  What I discovered recently is that if I move an element and another model has that element being monitored, then that file sees the element as being deleted.   When the coordination review is ran in another model it will see it not as moved but as being deleted. It even disjoins any monitoring.  The moral of the post, if you are using move make sure you have a dang good reason to have disjoin checked.

Color Underlay Elements showing White

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David Light posted about problems with Room Color Schemes and certain elements not letting the color show through like stairs for furniture.  I added a comment to his post then thought I might follow up with this post.  The issue is when you add a color scheme to a plan view certain elements wont show through.

Switching the view to Wireframe is always an option but then the colors go to the center of the walls and this isn’t the result I am looking for. I will into the Visibility Graphics setting and check the Ghosted otion for all offendening categories.  This will allow the color scheme to come through the element categories that are causing the issue.  Plus then I can have this set up in a view template and apply it when needed.

 

 

Schooled by the Spouse, Part 2

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As Brian mentioned in the yesterday’s post, while I was writing an article for AUGIWorld he learned a tip from me (and got upset about not previously knowing said tip).  What he didn’t tell you is that I also learned one from him.  Now, this is not to say that we don’t learn Revit-y things from one another all the time, but we don’t often feel as stupid as we did this time.  I am embarrassed to say that the tip I learned was admittedly quite simple, and it is astonishing that no one (my husband in particular) had taught me this.

One of my favorite features of Revit is that I can select an element and then change its length by altering the temporary dimension.  However, I have found it frustrating that when doing so the base point for the length change is the center, so both ends get longer or shorter, because I often want one end to remain in the same location.  What I end up doing is changing the length and then moving the element, and then complaining about it.

While making a few screen shots for me about temporary dimensions, Brian started in on a show and tell of everything he knows about temporary dimensions.  I let him go on and on, because, lets be honest, there really is no stopping him from talking, especially about Revit, and that is when he spouted off this little gem.

When changing the length of an element by changing the temporary dimension, if one end is to remain stationary, simply start dragging the end of the element that you want to extend and then type the desired overall dimension.  I can’t believe I never knew that, especially since I so often draw elements in this manner (i.e. start drawing and then type the dimension).