Architectural Backgrounds to Back on Plots

[RobertB]

There is no complete way to get the architectural background (halftone/gray) to plot beneath the MEP work, as of Revit 2010. However, there are a few things you can do to attempt to get a better result.

First, make sure your sheet views are set to Hidden, not Wireframe. Typically, MEP users will create views that are wireframe for performance reasons. But Wireframe wreaks havoc on plot order. :)

Second, if the first approach is not enough, you can try the Raster printing mode rather than the Vector mode. Personally, I find this to be unsatisfactory, but there isn't much we can do. The factory doesn't seem to be very responsive on this issue. :shock:

Third, there is nothing you can do about linked annotations forcing their grimy way to the top, so stop trying. :cry:

[draftingking]

There is no complete way to get the architectural background (halftone/gray) to plot beneath the MEP work, as of Revit 2010. However, there are a few things you can do to attempt to get a better result.

First, make sure your sheet views are set to Hidden, not Wireframe. Typically, MEP users will create views that are wireframe for performance reasons. But Wireframe wreaks havoc on plot order. :)

Second, if the first approach is not enough, you can try the Raster printing mode rather than the Vector mode. Personally, I find this to be unsatisfactory, but there isn't much we can do. The factory doesn't seem to be very responsive on this issue. :shock:

Third, there is nothing you can do about linked annotations forcing their grimy way to the top, so stop trying. :cry:Another feature that showed up in 2010 is the "Print halftone as thin lines" option in the print setup page. I had the exact same issue you are talking about this morning.. and that made it look a LOT better.

[RobertB]

Another feature that showed up in 2010 is the "Print halftone as thin lines" option in the print setup page. I had the exact same issue you are talking about this morning.. and that made it look a LOT better.Unhappily, thin lines looks too much like out own existing objects. So that isn't a solution for us.

[dbaldacchino]

You could try setting up a separate Architectural-only view the way you want it, then do the same for an MEP-only view. So now you have two parts that you can overlay on one sheet view. The last view to overlay is the one that will be on top (there's no need to change the order except by removing the view and re-inserting it).

[Tony C.]

We found that creating PDF's using BlueBeam (with line merge) solves this problem. Unfortunately, it has a problem with masked text.