Showing Future Work

[sbrown]

How is everyone dealing with showing possible future expansions? Using phasing doesn't work because there is no way to show future phases in your new construction phase. you have to set the view to future, but then your new construction thinks its existing.

Basically all we want to show is the future work as dashed. But we want to track the areas too.

[Eric Stewart]

I have not done what you want to do, but how about this?

Create a new phase called "Future." Create a new phase filter called "Show Future + Previous" where New=Overridden, Existing=By Category, Demolished and Temporary = Not Displayed. Change the "New" overrides to meet your needs.

Create a new plan and set the phase to "Future" and the phase filter to "Show Future + Previous."

[twiceroadsfool]

Well, we dont use Graphical Overrides for the "New" stuff, since its all By catagory. So in the phasing Graphical Overrides, you can set everything that is "New" to be dashed lines, when "Overriden."

You can then make a new Phase Filter that is "Show current (future)". Tell it:

Existing: not displayed
Demolition: not displayed
Temporary: not displayed
New: Overriden

Then you have to set that view on top of the view that is set to the previous phase with Show Previous and New. Not the prettiest solution, but it gets er done.

EDIT: Eric's solution is spot on too, if you set Existing to By Catagory instead of ovveridden, then you dont need two views.

UNLESS: You want to show EXISTING, Current, AND Future. Then theres no way around it, you need two views.

[sbrown]

I'm trying to show existing Grey, new black and future dashed. So I don't think the phase filters work. two views on top of each other will work but not elegant. We need a way to show future phases, we actually need independent control of visibility of each phase. We have some plans that need to show multiple phases differently so the linear approach causes us headaches.

[twiceroadsfool]

I dont disagree that we need it, but youre stuck with two views. I DO agree, that the Phase Filter dialogue needs to not only respect time in terms of "Past, present, future," But it needs to give us a full VG control for EACH phase in the project, overkill as that may seem.

Phase Filter called "Show Previous and New- standard"

Phase: AnnotLegend (VG)
Phase: Existing (VG)
Phase: Phase 1 (VG)
Phase: Phase 2 (VG)

And so on. I DO agree. But for now, two views will get the job down fairly easily. Or more appropriately, "X" number of views for however many phases you have, lol.

[sbrown]

I will be using the 2 views. It is actually very flexible because you can overide the graphics however you want without using phase filters at all.

I also considered design options. But don't like using them as a workaround.

thanks for the tip.

[twiceroadsfool]

Sorry, i was just emphasizing the word *do*.... I wouldnt touch Design Options for that either, lol.

Yeah, you can do the overrides on all the elements in the view without using a Phase Filter, but i like the phase filter for the *set it once and forget it* ease. Override in view is great, as long as its the last thing you do, and as long as no one else moves stuff to that phase...

[nancy.mcclure]

Combine Phase Filters with VG filter that queries Phase Created: Existing / NC / Future?

I haven't tested this theory, but seems it should be possible...

[twiceroadsfool]

You cant Filter for an actual Phase Created, unless its a Shared parameter that isnt intelligently tied to the actual Phase Created. At which point, youre no better off than using the 2 views and a custom Phase Filter.

The need is so seriously warranted. The Phase Filter dialogue needs to let us have access to every different phase, in every different phase filter. Points in time was a fantastic start, but we need to move farther with it now.

[nancy.mcclure]

Yep, created a test and Phase Created/Demolished isn't an available rule parameter. SPs would enable it, but agreed, it's a workaround that isn't inherently responding to the model data/status.

Seems a relatively straightforward program request*: an additional element status of Future, and a lift of the restriction to only see elements in the past.




*uh, yeah...

[twiceroadsfool]

Well, a status of *future* is nice, but there is still a big "miss" in the fact that it (Revit) will only appreciate time as a RELATION... Its in the "past," its "current," or its in the "future" (assuming we get the status).

I already see the major flaw with the system i was hypothesizing: You would have to make custom Phase Filters for every single phase in the project, so that you could define how different phases look, in all the different phaes. Thats nuts.

But, by the same token, something they should look at:

How many steps in the future or past something is. Im not sure how it works, and im not sure how its programmed. But thats basically what Phase Filters need to do.

Maybe it needs to work like a Color fill? "Phase Filters" become a legend that gets dropped on the view, and then we articulate through the legend that "phases before such and such" (think Room color fill by area range), and instead of picking a color, we simply say they dont show. Then the next "range" has an "Override" button that takes you to another VG dialogue, just like RVT Links...

Then you could use standard ones applied to views with view templates, and you could have custom view specific ones where you needed them.

I dont know, im thinking out loud. But in my head its freakin fantastic.

[Jmickledesign]

I could be way off base here but couldn't you also create another model and do the future addition in there and control how that model looks in your existing phase model.

I believe you can then set whichever overrides you want for the future phase model and not affect your existing phase model.

Hope this helps.......

[patricks]

What I have done is just create and demolish the future work in my New Construction phase, merely to get the graphic override there. We typically do not show anything as "temporary" so this works for us. If we actually anticipate the project eventually going into that future phase when we would need those elements, then I just create the elements as new, copy them to the clipboard, change the Phase Created property of those elements to the future phase (they disappear from my drawing) and then paste same place and change the newly pasted objects to Phase Demolished: New Construction.

[lzaras]

Old Thread, I know.
But, does anyone have any new ideas?

[patricks]

I'm guessing nothing has changed in this regard.