Tuesday, July 10, 2018

Revit Basics - View Range plus Discipline

Sometimes restating something again, and a little differently, can help a person understand a topic more clearly. Perhaps this post on Revit's View Range will connect a few more dots for those having trouble fully grasping the concept. Plus, this post ties in the plan view's Discipline setting and the Beyond linetype...

First, notice that the View Range dialog can be expanded and has a helpful graphic as shown here. Revit help also has this detailed description of View Range: About the View Range


Architectural plan view:
  • If an item touches the Cut Plane, or is below it, it will appear.
  • Wall cabinets will appear above the cut plane
    • Actually, casework, windows and generic models appear if at or below the Top Range
    • By contrast, you will notice the specialty equipment (SE) item will not appear in plan.
The Bottom & View Depth typical align and we see nothing below this in the model.


With the previous section in mind, note the following about this floor plan:
  • Discipline: Architectural
  • Wall cabinets appear
  • SE item does not appear
  • Footings do not appear
None of the structure or MEP above appears


A 3D view highlighting the cut plane for the plan view (thanks to Revit 2019 and 3D levels)…


MEP Floor Plan Views:

Changing the same plan view Discipline to an MEP option does the following:
  • Discipline: Mechanical (Electrical and Plumbing are the same).
  • All architectural and structural elements are halftoned.
  • MEP elements at or below the Top Range appear.
  • The light fixtures are above the Top Range, but have an ‘invisible line’ in the family which extends down to the Cut Plane, so they appear.
  • FYI: Detail Level affects how ducts, pipes and beams appear
This can be used to make other categories appear, such as the SE item.


Changing the Top Range to 10’-6” causes the duct and pipe to appear (Detail Level is Fine here).


Notice the Top Range is above the duct and pipe.



Any element that falls between the Bottom and View Depth automatically gets the Beyond linetype applied to it. FYI: The View Depth must be equal to, or below, the Bottom setting.


In this example, as seen in the previous image, the wall footings occur between the Bottom and View Depth, thus the Beyond linetype is applied to them.


A 3D view highlighting the View Depth relative to the Bottom setting…


The Beyond linetype can have its color and line pattern adjusted. I made it red and dashed in this example. This linetype is built-in and cannot be renamed or deleted.



Feel free to comment below if you have some related tips to share. Perhaps in a future post I will discuss ceilings plans and plan regions.


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