Revit 2024 - Template Views Crop Boundary Controlled by Scope Box

 There are new multi-discipline templates for Revit 2024 (imperial and metric).

In the new multi-discipline template the views that are placed on sheets are controlled by a Scope Box. When you look at the properties you'll notice that Crop View is disabled (gray).

We can turn off the visibility of the crop boundary but we have to disable the association with a scope box if we want to change the crop independently. Of course if we like and want to take advantage of the scope box being defined and used for the views, we need to open a view that isn't constrained by the scope box so we can adjust the Scope Box extents (it's called Views Overall)

Selection Box and Linked Models

I was just thinking that it seems unfair that the Selection Box (reasonably new feature) goes to sleep when you select just a linked file. Maybe I want to crop the 3D view down to just that link? That's when I realized that I happen to have a scope box around the link already. Select the Scope Box and then use Selection Box - et voila!

Yeah, I'm writing as if I didn't just go two months without so much as a by your leave...things have been...hectic, yeah. That's my story...

Revit 2016 - Selection Box and Scope Box

I keep forgetting about the new Selection Box tool. It just requires us to select something and it will open the default 3D view and turn on the Section Box to match the extents of the selected element(s).

The new tool is also quite handy when used in combination with a Scope Box. I don't think of one (a scope box) as an model element, not like a door or a wall at least. The tool doesn't mind though. That makes it easy to crop a large model down to just a selected Scope Box. Easy!

Heads Up, it will use the active 3D view if there is one. Just be sure to close the 3D view you don't want to alter or open one you do. If no 3D view is open it will use the default 3D view, yours (the one with your username appended) if you are using worksets.

Scope Box Issues with Disciplines

When we assign a view to Mechanical, Electrical or Plumbing disciplines a Scope Box gets treated as an underlay element and its graphic display is also affected. This image is of a mechanical view and a scope box, only two sides of the box are visible (it's been like this since 2012 at least). Since it is regarded by Revit as an underlay element if I choose to disable the Select Underlay Elements option (new in 2014) I can't select the Scope Box either.

There isn't much we can do to counteract this graphic quirk except to deal with scope boxes in views where they aren't graphically harmed. Most of the time people want to hide scope boxes faster than a litter box when guest arrive. For offices that don't show a scope box in printed documentation it isn't an issue. If you really want to show it then it might be necessary to create an annotation symbol or detail component that you can use to compliment the Matchlines that are usually associated with scope boxes.

Keep in mind that each Scope Box has a Edit button for Views Visible (button is in the Properties Palette).

This dialog governs which views the scope box will be visible in or not. If you find you can't see a scope box in an elevation for example then double check these settings. You'll probably find that it is set to be invisible in the view.

As mentioned in the first line of the dialog in the image, Scope Boxes are automatically visible in 3D views and in other views where they (the scope box) intersect the view's cut plane. This changes dynamically, if the scope box is altered so it comes into contact with a view's cut plane it will change from Invisible to Visible without any additional effort on our part. We can use the dialog to force either condition to be persistent however.

Five Minutes Working with Rotated Views

A common question from people with experience using AutoCAD is, "Does Revit have a UCS too?". There isn't a literal equal tool in Revit, no UCS button. In Revit we manipulate views to make it easier to work with different orientations. This means making some extra views. We can move back and forth between any number of views, as often as necessary. If we don't need them anymore, we can just delete them (thus the notion of a "working view").

There are several ways to manage working with different view orientation:

1. Turn on and rotate the Workplane, turn on Workplane visibility, Revit will snap architectural elements to the workplane (not effective for MEP elements)
2. Rotate the crop region of a view (rotation is in the opposite direction to the orientation you need)
3. Scope Boxes - associate views to a scope box that is rotated by the angle required. The scope box controls the crop region (see 1)
4. A Callout View can be placed and rotated to generate a view that is oriented to a desired direction

How about a video?

There is another way to rotate a view but it is related to the orientation of the view to the sheet it is place on. Imagine a portrait orientation of a view on a landscape oriented sheet. I've seen this used for overall elevations of tall buildings. It is a property of a View or it's Viewport called: Rotation on Sheet.

Post was inspired by my response to a thread at AUGI.

Scope Boxes

Dave Baldacchino wrote a post at his blog the other day focusing some attention on these so I dug this information up.

I wrote the following documents in 2004 while I worked for Wimberly Allison Tong & Goo (WATG). It's still relevant today though some improvements in visibility control (such as using filters for managing grids instead for example) have reduced the necessity for using them, somewhat. Their facility at managing consistent views of the model for multi/many story projects probably remains the most compelling reason to use them.

Ironically I didn't focus on that in this document, I guess I took that bit for granted. What I did do is focus on their role managing the visibility of datum in views. There is a sample project file on my site. Below this first embedded document is another that is a guide to experimenting with the file.

Scope Box Example Project Found - Now Available

I tracked down the example project file I referred to in my post about Scope Boxes the other day. If you are interested in it, I've made it available for download via that post and if you are in a hurry you can get it via this link now.

Scope Box Project Example version 2009 (2.8mb)

Scope Boxes - Redux - Part Two

Last night I read a post by Jay B. Zallan regarding scope boxes plus I just went through this subject with a few folks yesterday.

All of which reminded me that I wrote something ages ago while I was working at WATG. The pdf's are shared in the AUGI Tutorials forum (have to login to download them).

Here's the preface of the pdf:

The purpose of a Scope Box is to limit visibility of datum to a specific portion of your project.

Scope Boxes actually go a little further by:

• Automatically controlling the extents of a view’s crop region and orienting the crop region to be aligned with the scope box boundary.
• Automatically and globally affecting the length of “their” levels, grids and reference lines when the scope box boundary is changed.
• Effecting change vertically as well as horizontally (you can isolate specific floors or areas within a bldg)
• Hiding annotation for other related views (Sections/Elevations) if the cut plane of that view is not within or does not cross the scope box for that view.

Three concepts apply to scope boxes: (Also see the Sample Scope Box project file)
• Creating a Scope box
• Applying a Scope box to datum and views
• Controlling the visibility of Scope Boxes

I too really like using them to manage a consistent cropped boundary for multiple floor plan views.

If you'd like to download the pdfs and example project now:
Scope Boxes (276kb)
Scope Boxes Example (350kb)
Scope Box Example Project 2009 version (2.8mb)

Note: These were written while I was employed by WATG so attribution goes to them.