Opening a View and it Appears Empty

I wrote THIS POST about Revit's behavior when you open a new view. There are times when you open a new view and Revit seems determined not to show you what is there. You get an empty view, or at least it looks empty, until you use Zoom to Fit.

It's been my observation that this happens when you are opening a new view with another view open that is cropped or at least looking at a very different portion of the model where there isn't anything to see in the new view. This happens because Revit is trying to focus on the same location in the new view, based on the location within the model you were already looking at (the view you were just using).

In a simple model this automatic zoom/focus works pretty well. As soon as we introduce linked files, scope boxes, cropped boundaries etc... it gets less reliable or helpful. Just something to consider next time you are greeted by an empty view. It might help to close down your current view first and use a simpler view or a schedule to start from instead. Then again, using Zoom to Fit isn't hard.

Text Editing and Zooming

Anybody that's been using Revit for awhile has probably thought, "It would be nice if the text editor was better". It's always been very rudimentary and even with the few improvements it's received it remains so.

One point of pain is using TABS to create columns of information. The frustration isn't the concept as much as how Revit alters the format of the text when we select it to change it. If we get everything just right and return later often the text gets messed up. This is an example of text that I've formatted into columns with the TAB key, text style is set to a Tab Size of 1/8".

Awesome bank balance eh? Here's what happens when I zoom in to see the text a bit better and select the text again.

Autodesk support suggests we try to return to the same zoom factor we used to create the text. That's hard to do if we didn't create the text or if we come back later. They recommend we use the Zoom Sheet Size feature to ensure consistent editing zoom factor.

Zoom Sheet Size adjust the view as if we are printing and viewing the information at 1:1, taking in account the view scale. This image shows using it on both a floor plan and sheet view that has the same floor plan on it. Zoom Sheet Size adjusts both views to show the information at the same "size".

Fwiw, when I see the formatting is messed up I find that using Zoom Sheet Size and then selecting the text and clicking it again to edit the text Revit will "fix" the formatting that was messed up by zooming in closer earlier. Something to consider until text is less finicky.

I should also mention that with 2014 this kind of tabular information could be created in the header portion of a schedule like this.

And again but without grid lines visible, more like the text but with a bit more control over formatting.

Dept. of Subtle - Pan/Zoom Insensitivity

This is really very subtle but with 2010 if you should happen to start with the really "dumb" template called "none" the pan/zoom functions don't work unless you have something in the view. This might makes sense except I wanted to turn on the new Project Base Point and Survey Point graphics and then Zoom to Fit. Revit won't Zoom to Fit or pan for that matter if they are visible when nothing else exists in the view.

If you add some text, a wall segment, an elevation view, a line...something pan/zoom come back to life. Apparently the graphic icons for these aren't "real enough" elements that pan/zoom recognize. Fortunately most people won't encounter this because they'll be working with a template that has "stuff" in it!

This "condition" is also true for earlier releases but 2010 now has something that you might actually want to use Zoom to Fit to see even if other elements don't exist yet.

As you were...