Reveal Elements - Hidden Viewport

The other day I was looking at a sheet a user reported it was impossible to select a floor plan view on. It seemed as though Revit did not see the view port on the sheet. People frequently pin views to make it a bit harder for other people to move them on a sheet accidentally. That will still allow a view port to be seen by Revit, it will still highlight as the cursor travels over it.

Then I thought of right-click Hide In View > Element. I used Reveal Elements and I could select the viewport. Using that tool does not hide what is visible in the view, it just disables the ability to select the view port.

Good? Bad? It isn't expected, well I didn't expect it.

Finding Families - IDs of Selection

When we need to track down a family that might be loaded into one or more project files we can use master schedule project that includes links for all the relevant project files. If one of the project files already has links to all the others then we can just use that one for this instead.

A schedule focused on the relevant category that also uses the option Includes elements in links can be quite useful.

It can help us track down which models and how many there are in each of them. A little clever use of the Filter tab in the schedule can be a big help. Once we've figured out where the family is we can deal with each of them in each project.

We can search through the Families branch of the Project Browser and then use the right click option for Select all Instances in Entire Project.

Now I can reach for IDs of Selection.

Revit provides a list of Element ID numbers for each family.

It is not unusual for the list to be quite long so I often reach for Notepad (or better still Notepad++...which reminds me I need to install it on this new PC). I use CTRL+C to copy the element IDs to the clipboard and then CTRL+V in Notepad. Notice the commas between the Element ID numbers.

In Notepad I can be selective about which ones to start examining more closely. I just select one or more of the element IDs and then use Select Element by ID (CTRL+C and CTRL+V again in reverse).

Notice the instruction in parenthesis (in the image below)? It says to use a semicolon between the numbers but Revit used commas earlier. Odd.

...and...believe it or not, this is the reason I decided to write this post... commas work too. Yeah, that's definitely subtle.

As for the element hunting and selecting process, I'll be interested and waiting to see what sort of Dynamo approaches pop up in comments.

Element Count - Revit versus Navisworks

I find the little number listed in the bottom right corner of Revit invaluable.

So much so that I find it hard to believe that we didn't have it for many years. When you select items using Navisworks I sure miss a similar display. I realize that the selection set can be quite varied but a count that is easy to check/read would be cool.

Dept. of Subtle - Copy Monitor and Element Count

When you use the Copy Monitor feature and select multiple elements, to either Copy or Copy and Monitor, the element count listed on the Status Bar does not recognize multiple items. If you open the Filter dialog it will show you how many items are selected. The readily visible count value on the status bar doesn't unfortunately.

If a video would help...here's one!

Dept. of Subtle - TAB Key - Entire and Partial Chain of Lines or Walls

This is subtle feature of using the TAB key that many users are not aware of. First of all, it is easier to see than to describe so you might as well watch the VIDEO.

Two items:

• Select Entire Chain of Walls or Lines
  
• Select Partial Chain of Walls or Lines

First item - Hover cursor over a wall or line > Press TAB key once (Walls or lines highlight) > Left Click to select.

Second item - Select a wall or line > Hover cursor over a different wall or line somewhere along the path > Press TAB once (Walls or lines highlight) > Left Click to select. The subtle difference is that which direction the selected chain travels depends on which end of the element you hover your cursor over. Watch and then try it!

NO DISCO tabbing, as my friend Cyril says. Just press the TAB key once. You get the disco tabbing when you press and hold the TAB key down. We call it Disco because the highlighted lines will flash at you.

Last comment, make sure you hover and then hold your mouse steady. If you move the mouse away after highlighting the chain the TAB feature fails. You have to make sure everything is highlighted still before using the Left mouse button to select them. It is a process unlike any other software you are familiar with most likely. Practice a couple times if you aren't already very comfortable with it.