Wish - Create Similar for Lines

I primarily find myself wishing for Create Similar when I'm creating symbolic or model lines in the family editor. I try hard to not use just lines in a project, favoring line-based families instead...yes even in Drafting View details. That written if Create Similar worked on them in the project I wouldn't complain.

That Thick Boundary on my Sheet

A conversation about our title block is inevitable when working through implementation. If we're going to produce a drawing we'll need one unless we've arrived at the day when a model is the only deliverable which, unless I've become Rip van Winkle and woke up twenty odd years in the future, isn't the norm yet.

One recurring theme is a thick boundary line. A polyline is often used for this in AutoCAD. Sorry, there is no equivalent element (AutoCAD polyline) in Revit, namely that a polyline's thickness can vary along it length. To replicate a thick boundary we need to use Revit's own lines to sketch thick lines. We also need to keep in mind that Revit's lines do not square off at the ends, an option that AutoCAD developers added to it in the past. Revit's developers designed it thinking that the tip of pens/pencils are round and when you sketch with a them you get rounded edges, consistent with "reality".

If we need a thick (or very thick) boundary with squared edges then we accomplish that with a Filled Region (solid black). It is sketched like two rectangles, inside and outside edges of the thick line, using a thin line. When the filled region is finished it will look just like a thick "line".

Hopefully the same result, just different technique.

Two Lines in Schedules

You may be aware that we can force a schedule field to use a new line by pressing Shift + Enter. This permits you to enter new information on a second line but once you finish editing the cell Revit will only show the single row. When the schedule is placed on a sheet you'll see both lines or how ever many you force it to use.

If you do this and need to edit the information again you'll need to use the Left Arrow key to advance the cursor to the next line(s). It's a little quirky. With the lack of fidelity between sheet and schedule editing view you'll also have to experiment with the width of columns to get them look correct on sheets.

Hopefully its obvious but I'll mention it anyway, this Shift + Enter only works on fields that we type values into not those that are calculated or based on other value supplied by the elements themselves, like Family, Type, Height, Width etc. Technically you might be able to enter something but it will still have to provide an acceptable result to the family itself.

The Fat Pen - A Tale Two Lines

Every now and then I read or hear someone say that it is faster (in early design) to just sketch lines to create a quick floor plan for concept design (often as a justification for doing the work outside of Revit as well). I also hear that if we are going to do that (in Revit), we should just use Room Separation lines because we can put rooms in to identify them. I think both notions are "off", use walls.

"But Steve I don't want two lines, I just want a "fat pen" (think Sharpie)."

I say either sketch using really thin walls or use the Coarse Scale Fill Pattern as intended. That's my choice because they aren't any more work than sketching lines (ignoring their height), they provide boundaries for rooms and they can host doors and windows. It's also simple to change them to a better type later. If you use room separation lines first and then need walls you have to recreate stuff that's already there, they just aren't the right "stuff".

Years ago I worked with a guy that I found sketching lines in plan first. I asked why and he said he needed the lines to know where to put the walls. Somewhere deep inside we have this notion "we must draw lines". Everything he was doing was just as easy to do with walls instead...he "needed" lines first. Sometimes we must forget what we know. ~ Try walls, you'll like'em.

Still thinking that those "lines" are better than walls? Can those lines do this? (Please don't be distracted by my clever building design)

Okay, sure they can do that but what adding rooms and doors?

And then a few clicks more...this?

or easily changing to look like this instead (by changing wall types to use "Coarse Scale Fill Pattern")?

Can those lines generate cool shadows? (well, I think they are cool)

or switch to a more construction oriented appearance by changing "Detail Level" (okay, should have turned off the shadows)?

Do I really need to bring up schedules or 3D views or sections/elevations or enlarged views or ceiling plans and so on? I guess I just did. Walls set the stage for everything else downstream ~ I say use'em!

Sorry You are Too Short

No I'm not picking on short people, that's Randy Newman's domain. Revit does have a bias against short lines (as most of us are well aware). Try sketching a line that's less than 1/32" long and you'll get this message.

It also doesn't care much for moving or copying elements very small distances. You may have run into this message?

What may not be obvious is that you can often trim a line to be shorter than the minimum size of 1/32". The threshold appears to be 1/128" (.16mm). In my experience this appears to work for most families such as annotation, detail component and generic model families. I've tried it in various project views including a drafting view without success. The project environment seems to be entirely intolerant of slipping past the 1/32" (0.780369mm) threshold. Trying to get smaller than that generates the first warning again.

If you want to copy/move something a smaller distance and get the warning, try dragging or using CTRL + Drag. You can get the arbitrary smaller distance and then use the temporary dimension to set the actual distance you want. Sometimes you can affect this limitation by zooming in closer, at least with regard to move or copy.

Fwiw, 1/128" converted to decimal is 0.00781250". I was able to make a line shorter still, to this decimal inch value 0.0063477", however Revit could not display anything other than 1/128" unless I changed the project units to decimal inches first using six decimal places. It is possible to create shorter lines than we are accustomed to (Revit limits) but only in family files.

Dept. of Errors - Slightly Off Axis

David Duarte (Revit Beginners blog) mentioned in a post at AUGI that he's observed that detail lines in drafting views that are drawn at very small angles no longer generate warnings or are stored in the Revit Warnings dialog box. He posted at AUGI looking for confirmation that it is supposed to be working this way now or not. I don't recall it being mentioned at all in the various sessions regarding new features.

In my testing I find that Model Lines do generate a warning message and store a warning but Detail Lines do not when sketched in Drafting Views (or plan views for that matter). In the following image (in a regular floor plan view) the model line generates a warning but the same angle does not for the detail lines.

Hopefully this is an intentional change. Regardless it is welcome since I've seen many projects littered with such errors in drafting/detail views. In particular those that have been created from external cad data originally. Now they just need to reconsider the <1/32" (less than) line length limitation, at the very least in drafting views.

Converting Lines - Model to Detail or Vice Versa

Finally remembered to add this tip/post at AUGI from January 14, 2008, a method for changing model lines to detail lines and vice versa.

Model Lines to Detail Lines (use sketch based detail element)
- Select Model Lines and Cut to Clipboard (CTRL + X)
- Start a new Filled Region and paste the lines in anywhere
- Select the lines and cut to clipboard again
- Cancel making the Filled Region
- Paste into view - they are now Detail Lines

Detail Lines to Model Lines (use a sketch based model element)
- Select Detail Lines and Cut to Clipboard (CTRL + X)
- Start a new Floor and paste the lines in anywhere
- Select the lines and cut to clipboard again
- Cancel making the floor
- Paste into view - they are now Model Lines

I'd been using the Roof by Footprint do this for awhile but the floor is "quicker" since you don't have to choose the roof method first 8-). Technically you could just edit an existing floor or filled region and paste and cut and quit sketch to accomplish the same thing.