Filtering with Subcategories

[ekneer]

Hello,

I'm a structural engineer who is transitioning to REVIT. I have a project model started, and wish to filter the views for ease of working with the moderate sized model. For example, I wish to have only the lateral load resisting system (braced frames, shearwalls, etc.) in view, but not the gravity framing. From what little I've seen of REVIT, it seems creating subcategories, and filtering the view properties is the best way to do. (If there's a better way for filtering "layers" in REVIT please let me know)

I've created the sub-categories without a problem. However, I'm having difficulties assigning these sub-categories to the actual members in the model. The Help file says to go to the properties dialog box and, "In the Instance box of the dialog box, click the Subcategory value box and select the subcategory name you just created from the drop-down menu". However, when I open the properties dialog box, there is no "Subcategory" box.

Any suggestions/solutions?

I'd appreciate any direction you can provide. Thanks,

Erik

EDIT: I've found a tutorial related to this problem. However, it presents other questions. The tutorial covers assigning sub-categories within the family editor and applying them to the overall family element. However, I do not wish to apply a "Gravity Framing" sub-category to EVERY wide-flange beam. Simply a few instances of them. I've been unable up to this point to find a place where I can assign my global sub-categories (made within the main model) to specific instances. Can anyone assist me with this?

[Paul Andersen]

Erik, per the autodesk press releases/brochures there are major filter enhancements if you can wait for the release of RST3.

If not, there is no real great way that I've found to accomplish this in RST2. Some workarounds that we've used for presentation purposes have been to cheat using phasing and the graphical overrides they offer to group and display like systems in a model (we did this on a copy of the original model). From a visibility toggling standpoint, worksets would be a rather clean approach that would give you the ability to group the model anyway you wish.

[ekneer]

Erik, per the autodesk press releases/brochures there are major filter enhancements if you can wait for the release of RST3.

If not, there is no real great way that I've found to accomplish this in RST2. Some workarounds that we've used for presentation purposes have been to cheat using phasing and the graphical overrides they offer to group and display like systems in a model (we did this on a copy of the original model). From a visibility toggling standpoint, worksets would be a rather clean approach that would give you the ability to group the model anyway you wish.

Hmmm....well that's disheartening. Unfortunately, I can't really wait until RS3.

What about the sub-category assignments in the general model? I'm able to create them, but can't find a tool for assinging them. They don't even show up in the project browser under "Families" after I create them, so what's their purpose?

(Sorry for the newbie questions, but I've scoured the help and tutorial files, and can't find anything addressing these issues. Thanks again!)

[Steve_Stafford]

Enabling worksets will give you the sort of control you are after. You just assign various elements to different worksets and then you can turn them on/off globally or view by view. Filters in 9 might eliminate the need but you can get what you want now...though it won't be long before 9 is available either.

[Paul Andersen]

The primary use for subcategories (at least how I've used them) is to be able to control the visibility and overrides of specific geometry within a family of a given category whether it is in-place or outside the project.

For example you could add an embed plate to the ends of a wide flange beam family, create a subcategory called Embed (or whatever) and apply it to the plate geometry (Extrusion ... ). When the family is loaded into the project you would be able to toggle the visibility and adjust the graphic overrides available for the plate independent of the category of the family itself by making adjustments to the Embed subcategory in the visibility/graphics override dialog.

The ability to create these subcategories in the model itself through the object styles dialog are primarily for use in in-place families you create in the model for similar purpose to the example above.

I'm sure there are many other creative uses for these. In your situation I guess you could copy the families that have multiple uses say a wide-flange for example and give them unique names. Add a subcategory such as gravity framing and apply it to the geometry in the family. Place all gravity framing members with this family etc.

If you are just trying to group all of your lateral system (braces, shearwalls) together and gravity framing together and so on for the purpose of toggling their visibility on or off in specific views I would recommend using worksets for now.

[ekneer]

Great....thanks for all of the assistance. I will try using worksets to filter my views.

Now.....how about that "Unbonded Braces" thread I started?

[chad_lueptow]

Would modeling the lateral or frame beams as "horizontal bracing" in the
structural usage section of the structural category of the element properties
dialog box work? Then you could use the visibility/graphics of the view to
see what you want.

[ekneer]

Would modeling the lateral or frame beams as "horizontal bracing" in the
structural usage section of the structural category of the element properties
dialog box work? Then you could use the visibility/graphics of the view to
see what you want.

You would know better than I. Sounds like it might be an alternative. I've started trying using worksets to separate the systems however, and that seems to be working quite well. I was a little unclear however to the file structure, and how REVIT separates the worksets. It has created two sub-folders (_backup & _log) with various files in them. Are these the references for the worksets, while the "main" file is the original .rvt file? Just less clear than AutoCAD where the Xref's are simply other files of the same format (.dwg).

While I'm at it, is there a way to prevent REVIT from creating separate files for different views that are created? Just for file organization it would be nice to have only the main file "Building.rvt" rather than all the other offshoots that REVIT creates automatically, "Building.0034.rvt" "Building.0035.rvt" "Building.0036.rvt", etc.

Thanks again for the help,

[Steve_Stafford]

The two folders: _Backup and _Log are created when Revit creates the Central file. The _Backup folder is critical and should not be messed around with. The _Log file creates a keystroke record of each user working on the project. While the contents of this folder are very important for Revit support staff to diagnose a problem the folder's contents are not mission critical and can be purged from time to time.

The files with the four digit numerical extension are not separate view files, they are backup files, created each time you Save. The default number of backup files for Central files is twenty. Four users saving five times per day means a total of twenty backup files so you have discreet files for each person's save. Standalone projects and families default to three backups.

Imagine the Central File is equal your Bank Card's main database...if you access your account online you'll find that not every transaction you made recently is in their records yet, sometimes anyway. The reason for this, the data is distributed around the State/Country and syncronization is done periodically. The next syncronization and your recent purchases show up in the online display of your transactions. The central file/local file is the same relationship.

As for workflow my favorite analogy is a Library and I wrote a brief article about it in my blog.

[ekneer]

Rep points for you Steve (not that you need them).

Thanks for the great explanation.